Grants Awarded
June 2001
The ninth and final deadline for the submission of grant applications within the framework of the ESF Programme on Plant Adaptation was 1 May 2001. 29 applications were received. All applications were evaluated by the members of the Programme Steering Committee, and the final decision taken by the Executive Group on 2 July 2001. Grants were awarded as follows:
Doctoral Students:
Ms. Yoko Luise Dupont, Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Aarhus, Denmark, is spending 6 months at the Departamento de Biología, Universidad de La Laguna, Spain, to study the Patterns of specialisation/generalisation of plant-animal interactions (pollination and seed dispersal) in Euphorbia spp. (Euphorbiaceae) of the Canary Islands.
Ms. Piia Viivi Helena Hassinen, Department of Biochemistry, University of Kuopio, Finland, is spending 4 months at the Department of Plant Sciences, Wageningen University, The Netherlands, to study the Isolation and analysis of zinc hyperaccumulation associated full-length cDNA clones from Thlaspi caerulescens using DDRT-PCR probes.
Postdoctoral Fellows:
Dr. Nigel Bailey, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London, United Kingdom, spent 1 month at the Univsität Halle, Germany, to study the Application of High Field 1H NMR spectroscopy and pattern recognition to the metabonomic analysis of heavy metal resistance in plants.
Dr. Gloria de la Viña, IACR-Rothamsted, Harpenden, United Kingdom, is spending 10 months at the Facultat de Farmacia, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain, to carry out a Study of expression and cellular localisation of enzymes related to the polyamine pathway in wheat plants showing differences in tolerant to salt stress.
Dr. Richard John Handley, School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom, is spending 12 months at the Department of Plant Ecology, Uppsala University, Sweden, to study The adaptive significance of trichome production in Arabidopsis lyrata.
Dr. Nina Coralie Hautekeete, Université de Lille 1, France, is spending 12 months at the Faculteit Wiskunde en natuurwetenschappen, Rijksuniversiteit Leiden, The Netherlands, to study Adaptation to pathogens in wild beets in relation with life histories.
Dr. Asa Ingrid Christina Lankinen, Department of Theoretical Ecology, Lund University, Sweden, is spending 12 months at the Department of Botany, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway, to study Female ability to sort among competing pollen in relatin to mating-system evolution and sexual selection.
Dr. F. Xavier Pico, Department of Ecology, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, spent 1 month at the Royal Botanic Garden of Edinburgh, United Kingdom, to study Geographical variation of cycloidea-like genes in the preglacial herb Ramonda myconi: first insights into adaptation to contrasted climatic conditions.
November 2000
The deadline for the eighth round of applications for grants within the framework of the ESF Programme on Plant Adaptation was 1 October 2000. 15 applications were received. All applications were evaluated by the members of the Programme Steering Committee, and the final decision taken by the Executive Group on 20 November 2000. Grants were awarded as follows:
Postdoctoral Fellows:
Dr. Angelika Zohlen, Department of Ecology, Lund University, Sweden, is spending 12 months at the Departamento de Agronomía, University of Cordoba, Spain, to study the Immobilization of iron and other metals in plants on calcareous soils - role of HCO3 - and ethylene for Fe deficiency responses in plants.
Senior Scientists:
Dr. Pavel Kindlmann, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of South Bohemia, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic, spent 2 months at the Department of Plant Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Utrecht, Netherlands, to study Evolutionary (dis)advantages of being deceptive.
June 2000
The deadline for the seventh round of applications for grants within the framework of the ESF Programme on Plant Adaptation was 1 May 2000. 23 applications were received. All applications were evaluated by the members of the Programme Steering Committee, and the final decision taken by the Executive Group on 28 June 2000. Grants were awarded as follows:
Doctoral Students:
Ms. Christelle Dutilleul, Institut de Biotechnologie des Plants, Université Paris Sud, France, spent 6 months at the Department of Environmental Biology, Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, United Kingdom, to study the Effect of a mitochondrial mutation on GSH/ascorbate cycle.
Postdoctoral Fellows:
Dr. Valérie Bert, Laboratoire de Génétique et Evolution des Populations Végétales, Université de Lille, France, spent 8 months at the Department of Plant Biology, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, to study Cadium tolerance and hyperaccumulation in Arabidopsis halleri: identification of genes.
Dr. Olivier Hardy, Laboratoire de Génétique et d’Ecologie Végétales, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, spent 4 months at INRA, Maugio, France, to study the Impact of non-additive gene effects on statistics used to compare differentiation at/of quantitative traits and neutral genetic markers.
Dr. Tove Hedegaard Jørgensen, Department of Ecology and Genetics, University of Aarhus, Denmark, spent 6 months at the School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom, to study the Development and evolution of a polymorphism for flower colour.
Dr. Graham Muir, Department of Applied Plant Science, Queen’s University Belfast, United Kingdom, spent 12 months at the Institute of Animal Breeding and Genetics, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria, to study the Identification of genomic regions responsible for the differentiation between Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl, and Quercus robur L.
December 1999
The deadline for the sixth round of applications for grants within the framework of the ESF Programme on Plant Adaptation was 1 October 1999. 12 applications were received. All applications were evaluated by the members of the Programme Steering Committee, and the final decision taken by the Executive Group on 1 December 1999. Grants were awarded as follows:
Doctoral Students:
Mr. Dan Bruhn, Risøe National Laboratory, Roskilde, Denmark, spent 3 months at the Department of Biology, University of York, United Kingdom, from January 2000, to study Mechanisms underlying inhibition of plant respiration by elevated CO2.
Mr. Javier Perez Hormaeche, Dpto. Microbiologia y Parasitologia, Universidad de Sevilla, Spain, spent 6 months at the Institut des Sciences Vegetales, Gif-sur-Yvette, France, from February 2000, to study the Evolution of pectic genes in Medicago: Molecular basis of legume adaptation to symbiosis.
Postdoctoral Fellows:
Dr. Rosario García Gil, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias, Moncado, Spain, spent 12 months at the Department of Biology, University of Oulu, Finland, from January 2000, to study the Genetic basis of climatic adaptation: sequence variation of phytochrome P in Pinus sylvestris.
Dr. Françoise Martz, Department of Plant Physiology, University of Umea, Sweden, spent 12 months at the Finnish Forest Research Institute, Rovaniemi Research Station, Finland, from February 2000, to study Molecular analysis and biochemical analysis of the changes of the membrane lipid composition in mountain birch: correlation with the freezing tolerance and effects of UV-B and ozone treatments.
June 1999
The deadline for the fifth round of applications for grants within the framework of the ESF Programme on Plant Adaptation was 1 May 1999. 15 applications were received. All applications were evaluated by the members of the Programme Steering Committee, and the final decision taken by the Executive Group on 28 June 1999. Grants were awarded as follows:
Postdoctoral Fellows:
Dr. Gilles Bena, Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution, University of Montpellier, France, spent 12 months at the Department of Biology, University of York, United Kingdom, to study the Coevolution, speciation and geographic separation in the symbiotic system Medicago rigidula s.l/Sinorhizobium sp.
Dr. Thomas Guebitz, School of Biological Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, United Kindgom, spent 8 months at the Department of Genetics, University of Barcelona, Spain, to study the Intra- and interspecific DNA variation in DRF and F5H in Arabidopsis halleri and closely related species in relation to adaptation to UV-B radiation.
Dr. Petra Kidd, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Stirling, United Kingdom, spent 8 months at the University of Barcelona, Spain, to carry out An investigation of the mechanism(s) underlying aluminium tolerance after silicon pretreatment in maize (Zea mays L.).
Senior Scientists:
Dr. Isabel Mateu, Department of Plant Biology, University of Valencia, Spain, spent 2 months at the School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom, to study The evolution of flower colour in snapdragons.
November 1998
The deadline for the fourth round of applications for grants within the framework of the ESF Programme on Plant Adaptation was 1 October 1998. 23 applications were received. All applications were evaluated by the members of the Programme Steering Committee, and the final decision taken by the Executive Group on 23 November 1998. Grants were awarded as follows:
Doctoral Students:
Mr. Thomas Bataillon, Station de Génétique et Amélioration des Plantes, INRA, Maugio, France, spent 1 month at the ICAPB, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom, from January 1999, to study the Inference of genome wide mutation rates and distribution of mutation effects for quantitative traits: A Monte Carlo comparison of several estimators.
Ms. Gillian Hazel O’Brien, Newcastle University, United Kingdom, spent 2 months at the Experimental Institute of Cereal Research, Foroezuioa d’Aida, Italy, from January 1999, to carry out an Investigation into the MRNA levels of a low temperature responsive gene in Barley cultivars.
Postdoctoral Fellows:
Dr. Anne Charpentier, Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, Montpellier, France, spent 6 months at the Department of Plant Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Utrecht, Netherlands, from January 1999, to study the Adaptive significance of developmentally-programmed tuber size variation in the clonal macrophyte Scirpus maritimus, in relation to changes in water level.
Dr. James Frederick Dat, University of Wales, Ceredigion, United Kingdom, spent 12 months at the University of Gent, Belgium, from March 1999, to study the Molecular characterisation of Salicylic Acid and H2o2 induction of Biotic and Abiotic Stess-Related Genes in plants.
June 1998
The deadline for the third round of applications for grants within the framework of the ESF Programme on Plant Adaptation was 1 May 1998. 37 applications were received. All applications were evaluated by the members of the Programme Steering Committee, and the final decision taken by the Executive Group on 17 June 1998. Grants were awarded as follows:
Doctoral Students:
Ms. Agnieszka Lesniewska, Institute of Plant Genetics, Polish Academy of Sciences, spent 6 months at the Institute of Grassland & Environmental Research, Aberystwyth, United Kingdom, from October 1998, to study Dissecting and selecting stress resistance traits by introgression-mapping and by anther-culture – exploiting natural plant adaptation in closely related species to benefit European agriculture.
Ms. Tean Mitchell, Plymouth University, United Kingdom, spent 6 months at the University of Lille, France, from September 1998, to carry out An investigation into adaptation of an economically important red seaweed to heavy metal pollution in estuaries in SW England.
Postdoctoral Fellows:
Dr. Olga Kovalchuk, Genetics Laboratory, Ivano-Frankivsk Medical Academy, Ukraine, spent 9 months at the Friedrich Miescher Institute, Basel, Switzerland, from September 1998, to study the Effects of nuclear pollution caused by the Chernobyl accident on the evolution of wild and cultured plant populations.
Dr. Valerie Laporte, University of Lille, France, spent 9 months at the University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom, from October 1998, to study Sex-linked genes in the dioescious plant Silene latifolia and degeneration of the Y-Chromosome.
November 1997
The deadline for the second round of applications for grants within the framework of the ESF Programme on Plant Adaptation was 1 October 1997. 19 applications were received. All applications were evaluated by the members of the Programme Steering Committee, and the final decision taken by the Executive Group on 12 November 1997. Grants were awarded as follows:
Doctoral Students:
Ms. Valerie Bert, University of Lille, France, spent 4 months at the University of Exeter, United Kingdom, from January 1997, to study Genetic basis of heavy metal tolerance in plants: are metallothioneins involved in the heavy metal tolerance and/or hyperaccumulation characters of the metallophyte Cardaminopsis haleri.
Ms. Regala Billeter, University of Zurich, Switzerland, spent 4 months at the University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands, from September 1998, to study Clonal diversity and clonal distribution in wetland Carex limosa as a function of population size, isolation and environmental heterogeneity.
Mr. Eric Ducos, University of Lille, France, spent 4 months at the University of Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, from January 1998, to study Molecular insight into cytoplasmic male sterility in wild beet.
Ms. Andrea Mathias, Eötvös University, Budapest, Hungary, spent 3 months at the University of Montpellier, France, from March 1998, to study Adaptive dynamics of dispersion rate in temporally fluctuating and spatially heterogeneous environments.
Postdoctoral fellows/senior scientists:
Dr. Anita Afke De Haan, University of Oulu, Finland, spent 6 months at the University of Gent, Belgium, from January 1998, to study Amplified fragment length polymorphism map in Arabis petraea.
Dr. Ann Smithson, University of Exeter, United Kingdom, spent 3 months at the University of Umeå, Finland, from April 1998, to study Pollinator preferences and the evolution of flower size.
Dr. Jean-François Soussana, INRA, Clermont-Ferrand, France, spent 2 months at the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Frederiksberg, Denmark, from June 1998, to study Adaptation of biological nitrogen fixation to P deficiency and it’s impacts at the population scale.
Dr. Josef Florian Stuefer, Utrecht University, the Netherlands, spent 1½ months at the University of Sussex, United Kingdom, from March 1998, to study Analyzing benefits and costs of reciprocal translocation of assimilates and water in clonal plants.
June 1997
The deadline for the first round of applications for grants within the framework of the ESF Programme on Plant Adaptation was 15 May 1997. 10 applications were received. All applications were evaluated by the members of the Programme Steering Committee, and the final decision taken by the Executive Group on 9 June 1997. Grants were awarded as follows:
Doctoral Students:
Ms. Eva Castells, CREAF, Barcelona, Spain, spent 2 months at the Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, Montpellier France, from September 1997, to study Genotypic variations in the production of antiherbivore phenolic compounds under elevated carbon dioxide.
Mr. Jens Fredrik Sundström, University of Uppsala, Sweden, spent 3 months at the Max-Planck-Institut für Züchtungsforschung, Germany, from October 1997, to study the Cloning of MADS-box genes in Norway Spruce using 3 rapid amplification of cDNA (RACE).
Postdoctoral fellows/senior scientists:
Dr. Helmi Helena Kuittinen, University of Oulu, Finland, spent 7 months at the University of Barcelona, Spain, from September 1997, to study Nucleotide variation in the chalcone isomerase gene.
Dr. Ann Smithson, University of Exeter, United Kingdom, spent 7 months at the University of Umeå, Sweden, from September 1997, to study Pollinator preferences and the evolution of flower size.
