Early career scientists awarded distinguished NERC fellowships

A researcher making field observations of a river and coastline with a clipboard and pen.

The NERC Independent Research Fellowships were announced today, with 11 early career researchers receiving prestigious awards totalling £7.4 million.

Sea level rise, coral reef dynamics, predicting climate and ecotoxicity are among the areas of research that the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Independent Research Fellowships will advance.

The fellowships, funded by NERC, support upcoming researchers who will be the next generation of leaders in environmental science.

Supporting early career researchers

Funding awards of five years will help to foster the fellows’ research, develop their leadership skills and establish their international reputations.

Professor Louise Heathwaite, Executive Chair of NERC, said:

I’d like to offer my congratulations to each early career researcher who has been recognised today. It’s a huge achievement.

Climate change degrades the environment and natural resources we depend upon for our health and prosperity.

The next generation of leading scientists will be critical in advancing the understanding of our changing climate, finding the solutions we need for a healthy, sustainable planet.

Advancing environmental science

The annual fellowships also aim to support early career researchers from diverse backgrounds and personal circumstances.

The researchers

Congratulations to the researchers who have received a fellowship.

James Keane from the University of York

Investigating biological uptake of nitrous oxide in soils

Stephen Hicks from the University College London

What controls coupling and seismogenic potential along faults?

Swaroop Chakraborty, from the University of Birmingham

Unravelling structural and biogeochemical transformation of nano-metal organic framework: impact on ecotoxicity and environmental applications

Lewis Jones from the University College London

Elucidating diversity dynamics in marine tropical hotspots (EDITH)

Chancey MacDonald from Newcastle University

Coral reef dynamics across longitude, latitude and depth

Evelyn Keaveney from Queen’s University Belfast

Soil to sea: the fate of terrestrial permafrost carbon in aquatic systems

Milan Klöwer from the University of Oxford

Climate predictions of feels-like temperatures with online machine learning

Anna-Lena Deppenmeier from the Imperial College London

Taming the big cat: reigning in processes behind tropical Pacific variability with the PUMACAT field campaign

Elsa Panciroli from the National Museums Scotland

The birth of mammals: uncovering the origins of viviparity

Beatriz Recinos from The University of Edinburgh

Future sea-level rise and freshwater export from Antarctic peripheral glaciers and ice caps in a warming climate

Charlotte Spencer-Jones from Durham University

Rapidly changing drylands and consequences for the microbial carbon cycle

Top image:  Credit: Niall_Majury, iStock, Getty Images Plus via Getty Images

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