Two University of Dundee students have received awards from the Scottish International Education Trust (SIET) travel grant scheme. The SIET scheme provides financial help to high achieving Scots men and women who wish to take their studies or professional training further. It specifically supports projects that contribute to the cultural, social or economic well being of Scotland or the improvement of the Scottish environment.
Karrie Melville, a postgraduate student from the Division of Environmental & Applied Biology, received an award for £1,500. She said, "I’m investigating fungal populations and communities that live on or inside rocks. The grant will be used to gain experience in a variety of molecular techniques, which will enable such communities to be genetically fingerprinted. I hope to use the money to spend several weeks at the University College, Dublin, as they have a lot of expertise when it comes to environmental molecular biology. There is also scope for attending conferences to communicate any findings from these visits to Dublin." PhD student Kevin Roche from the Division of Gene Regulation and Expression received a grant for £750. He used his award to further his research into cell cycle, DNA damage and cancer at an international research forum in New York in August. Kevin said, "The meetings in Cold Spring Harbour, New York, are considered as highly prestigious events that provide an international forum for the presentation and discussion of research. They provided me with the perfect opportunity to present my work on an international stage."