Rutherford Foundation awards research fellowships

22 September 2009

Rutherford Foundation awards $190,000 research fellowships to two top PhD graduates

The Rutherford Foundation of the Royal Society of New Zealand has announced the successful recipients of two inaugural postdoctoral fellowships valued at $190,000 each.  

The Rutherford Foundation is a charitable trust established to provide funding for emerging New Zealand scientists.

These postdoctoral fellowships include two years salary and research costs for two of New Zealand’s top PhD graduates to undertake research at New Zealand institutions.

The Foundation’s chairperson, Margaret Brimble, said “The Rutherford Foundation aspires to retain New Zealand’s outstanding young scientists in New Zealand Our postdoctoral fellowships provide vital funding for exceptional early career scientists to embark on their independent career so they can contribute to New Zealand’s science community.”

The inaugural recipients of the Rutherford Foundation postdoctoral fellowships are Dr Jennifer Kruger and Dr Michelle Greenwood.

Dr Kruger will study the mechanical and structural properties of the muscles of the pelvic floor, enabling better models of childbirth and increasing the understanding of the mechanism of pelvic floor muscle failure in some women. She will take up her postdoctoral fellowship at The University of Auckland Bioengineering Institute. 

Dr Michelle Greenwood will investigate fresh water ecology of braided river systems looking at how changes to river flows impact on aquatic habitats. She will undertake her research at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research in Christchurch. 

ENDS

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