Two Exeter academics appointed Wolfson Research Merit Award holders

The Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of science, has announced the appointment of two Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award holders from Exeter out of a total of 27 new awards.

Jointly funded by the Wolfson Foundation and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the scheme aims to provide universities with additional support to enable them to attract science talent from overseas and retain respected UK scientists of outstanding achievement and potential.

Professor Angus Buckling from the Centre for Ecology and Conservation and Professor Tim Lenton from Geography were recognised for their research into real-time feedback between microevolution and soil microbial community structure and early warning of climate tipping points, respectively.

Professor Buckling who works at the University’s campus in Cornwall commented “I was delighted when I was told about the award. The list of awards contains some of the brightest academics in the UK, so I am privileged to be named amongst them.

Professor Lenton added “Climate tipping points pose a huge risk to current and future generations, so it is great to have my research to find early warnings of them supported by the world’s leading science academy.”

The Wolfson Foundation is a grant-making charity established in 1955. Funding is given to support excellence. More information is available from its website.