The RSE is pleased to announce today that ninety-two exceptional research projects were selected at the autumn 2025 Research Awards open call.
Over £856,000 will fund innovative research across a range of academic fields, enabling projects such as virtual reality interventions to support emotional regulation in autistic children, the exploration of sea level rise in the Outer Hebrides through research in film, charting non-UK citizen voting behaviours in Scotland, and mitigating global warming’s impact on soil reserves.
In this round, lead investigators represent seventeen of Scotland’s universities and research institutes; however, the reach of these awards extends beyond Scotland, with collaborators from forty-five institutions in total, including international organisations in the USA, Australia, Italy, Malawi, Germany, Finland, and Iraq.
Among these collaborations is one Dr Ken Jeffrey from Divinity has created with Dr Brian Theu from the University of Livingstonia in Malawi. Dr Theu is one of our alumni, having completed his PhD in 2024 under the supervision of Dr Jeffrey and Dr Katie Cross. The title of their research project is ‘Witchcraft accusations and violence in northern Malawi: Strengthening community-based protection systems.’
Dr Jeffrey and Dr Theu, with support from other colleagues from the University of Livingstonia including Rev Agnes Nyrienda and Mr Godwins Lwinga, have begun to design the two-year project, while Dr Jeffrey will visit Malawi in June to help develop it further.
Delighted by this funding award, he enthused, ‘It is great to have received this opportunity to continue creating a research-based collaborative partnership with our friends from Malawi and to build upon the legacy of Rev Dr Robert Laws, one of our alumni who established the first educational institution at Livingstonia in 1875. It is humbling to be part of this long Aberdeen and Livingstonia story.’
https://rse.org.uk/rse-awards-provide-over-856k-boost-to-scotlands-research-sector/
Photo includes Rev Dr Brian Theu, Mrs Gertrude Theu, Dr Katie Cross and Rev Dr Ken Jeffrey.