The Starting Grant Programme

Sebastian Wolf

Sebastian Georg Wolf is a researcher at the Department of Earth Science, University of Bergen. In his TMF Starting Grant project, he will investigate how tectonic processes, climate, and glaciers interact to shape mountain landscapes over millions of years.

Valeriia Kalienkova

Valeriia Kalienkova is a researcher at the Department of Biomedicine. In the TMF Starting Grant project PhysiolASIC, Kalienkova will study acid-sensing ion channels, known as ASICs.

Rachael Morgan

Rachael Morgan is a fish ecophysiologist at the Department of Biological Sciences (UiB). Through her TMF Starting Grant project, she aims to investigate how rising temperatures and fluctuating oxygen levels in the ocean affect fish—specifically their vision, which is highly dependent on oxygen levels.

Leonardo Muniz Pichel

Leonardo Muniz Pichel is a geologist at the Department of Earth Science, University of Bergen. In the project "Salt Solutions" he, aims to understand how salt basins are formed and how they behave.

Tom Langbehn

Tom Langbehn is a marine ecologist at the Department of Biological science at the University of Bergen, where he is employed as a researcher in the research group for theoretical ecology.

Jana Belschner

Jana Birke Belschner is a researcher at UiB's Department of Comparative Politics and leads the TMF Starting Grant project Representing the Future in an Aging Europe: The Politics of Demographic Change. She will investigate how an aging society can ensure that the interests of young people and future generations are adequately represented in politics.

Henriette Aksnes

Henriette Aksnes is a researcher at UiB's Department of Biomedicine and leads the TMF Starting Grant MemBrain-The role of membrane protein modifications in age-related brain pathology. She will study the role of the NAA60 protein in a genetic condition with severe brain calcifications.

Gabriele de Seta

Gabriele de Seta is a researcher at Department of Linguistic, Literary and Aesthetic Studies at UiB, and leads the TMF Starting Grant project «Algorithmic folklore: The mutual shaping of vernacular creativity and automation». The project will study the myths we create about the algorithms we encounter in everyday life and how different cultures influence the development of these algorithms.

Justas Zalieckas

Justas Zalieckas is a researcher at UiB's Department of Physics and Technology and leads the TMS Starting Grant project "3D Diamond Growth on medical implants". The project aims to develop tailored diamond coatings on three-dimensional objects using nanotechnology. In the future, this could lead to the development of medical implants that the body tolerates better.

Suzette Flantua

Suzette Flantua is a researcher at the Department of Biological Sciences and head of the TMS starting grant project “Past, Present and Future of Alpine Biomes Worldwide (PPF Alpine)”. The project will study the past, the present and the future of the ecosystems that are along the highest parts of mountains globally, the ‘alpine’ zone.

Carina Strell

Carina Strell is leading the TMS starting grant project “EvoMaps - Understanding Early Breast Cancer Evolution in Space and Time”. The aim is to develop and apply novel tools for spatial tissue profiling in order to gather a better understanding on the underlying biology of subclonal expansion during early breast cancer evolution in the microenvironmental context.

Mali Husby Rosnes

The aim of the TMS project is to develop efficient and fully recyclable catalysts for the sustainable production of modern materials without the use of fossil raw materials.

Salwa Suliman

Dr. Salwa Suliman was awarded a TMS Starting Grant on December 4th 2020. Her research interest are tissue regeneration, tissue engineering and the immune systems reaction.

Willem van der Bilt

Dr Willem van der Bilt was awarded TMS Starting Grant December 4th 2020. His project will use new techniques and models to improve the knowledge within the field of global warming.

Erlend Grong

Dr Erlend Grong was awarded the TMS Starting Grant on desember 4th 2020. The project will do the groundwork for new tools for understanding equations that appear in finance and robotics.

Karl M. Laundal

Dr Karl M. Laundal was awarded the TMS Starting Grant December 6 2019. He leads the TMS Starting Grant project “What Shapes Space”. Project start 2020.

Eirik Hovden

Dr Eirik Hovden was awarded the TMS Starting Grant December 6 2019. Hovden studies how Islamic law changes. The project started in 2020

Selina Våge

Dr Selina Våge was awarded TMS starting grant Desember 7th 2018. She is primarily interested in the linkage between complexity in the observable world and how we can understand this from underlying laws of nature. Start up 2019.

Arjan H. Schakel

Dr Arjan H. Shakel was awarded BFS Starting Grant December 7th 2018. He is researcher at the principal Investigator of the project ‘Strengthening Regional Democracy: Contributing to Good Democratic Governance’. Project start 2019.

Konrad Tywoniuk

Dr Konrad Tywoniuk was awarded BFS starting grant 1. December 2017. He is mainly interested in dynamical phenomena involving nature’s fundamental interactions, mainly the weak and strong nuclear force. Start up in 2018

Helen Frances Leslie-Jacobsen

Dr Helen Frances Leslie-Jacobsen was awarded BFS starting grant December 1st 2017. Her current work focuses on the legal history of Norway, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands in the medieval and Early Modern periods. Start up 2018

Andreas Born

Dr Andreas Born is a researcher at the Department of Earth Sciences, where he is leading a research group working on a new type of ice cover model through a unique interdisciplinary approach. Startup 2017.

Lilya Budaghyan

Dr. Habil. Lilya Budaghyan is research leader for the project “Construction of Optimal Boolean Functions”, at the Department of Informatics. She is a leading specialist in the field Boolean functions and their applications. Start up 21017.

Steffen Leth Jørgensen

Dr. Steffen Leth Jørgensen is group leader for a research group at the Department of Earth Science, with support from Bergen Research Foundation. He is also affiliated to the K.G. Jebsen Center for Deep Sea Research, as a group leader. Start up 2017.

Yvette Peters

Dr Yvette Peters is a researcher at the Department of Comparative Politics at UiB, and a principal investigator of the project “The Politics of Inequality. How Representative Democracy (Mal-)Functions in Europe”, supported by BFS. Start up 2017.

Charalampos Tzoulis

Charalampos Tzoulis MD, PhD, er nevrolog ved Haukeland Universitetssjukehus og leder av forskningsgruppen: Translational Science in Neurodegeneration and Aging (TSNA) ved Universitetet i Bergen. Oppstart 2017.

Håvard Haarstad

Professor Håvard Haarstad is the princial investigator of the project “European cities as actors in climate and energy transformations”, at the Department of Geography. He is a human geographer, and has his MA (2005) and PhD (2009) degrees from UiB. He leads the research group SpaceLab and is director of Centre for Climate and Energy Transformation. Start up 2016

Harald Barsnes

Harald Barsnes, PhD, is leading the project “Building the bridge between high-throughput omics analyses and novel biomedical knowledge” and he is affiliated both to Department of Biomedicine and Department of Informatics. Start up 2016.

Kjetil Våge

Dr. Kjetil Våge is a research scientist in physical oceanography at the Geophysical Institute. He completed his undergraduate degree in physics at the University of New Brunswick, Canada (2003) followed by graduate degrees (MSc in 2006 and PhD in 2010) in physical oceanography from the Massachusetts. Start up 2016.

Marco Hirnstein

Dr. Marco Hirnstein is the leader of the “FlaSH” research group and in charge of the brain stimulation facilities at the Department of Biological and Medical Psycology. Start up 2016.

Anna Nele Meckler

Dr. Nele Meckler focuses on reconstructing past climates using innovative techniques on geological materials, such as marine shells preserved in ocean sediments. Following studies in geo-ecology at the University of Bayreuth, Anna Nele Meckler, continued her scientific career with a doctorate in paleo-oceanography obtained from ETH Zurich in 2006. Start up 2015.

Stian Knappskog

Dr. Stian Knappskog completed his engineers education in 1999 and his MSc in 2003. He has since then been focusing his research on the molecular and genetic mechanisms causing some cancer cells to become resistant to chemotherapy. Start up 2015.

Eivind Valen

Eivind Valen leads a research group at the Computational Biology Unit and the Sars Centre. His lab spans experimental and computational biology and addresses fundamental questions about how our genes are regulated. Start up 2014.

Bjarte Hannisdal

Bjarte Hannisdal heads the ‘Earth System Interactions and Information Transfer’ project. He studied biology and geology in Bergen before doing a PhD in Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago in 2006. Start up 2014.