Royal Society of Edinburgh awards for St Andrews academics

Five world-leading research projects led by academics at the University of St Andrews have been selected for funding awards by the Royal Society of Edinburgh's Research Awards Programme.

The RSE Research Awards supports Scotland's research sector by nurturing promising talent, encouraging research in Scotland, and promoting international collaboration. TheAwards promote innovation and entrepreneurship, supporting leading research that benefits Scotland's cultural, economic and social wellbeing.

St Andrews made up five of the 48 research projects from across Scotland which received Awards.

Professor Nicki Hitchcott from the School of Modern Languages and collaborator Dr Alice Urusaro Uwagaga Karekezi from the University of Rwanda received a RSE Small Research Grant for a project entitled 'Stories of the Mothers of Children Stolen from Rwanda and Burundi'.

In 2019, the Belgian prime minister apologised for the segregation, forced deportation and adoption of thousands of mixed-race children born during Belgian colonial rule in central Africa. Known as the "métis", these children were rarely acknowledged by their white European fathers. The apology took place beside increasing calls for accountability for colonial crimes alongside a small amount of emerging research on the métis' experiences. However, both public discourse and academic scholarship largely neglect the plight of the stolen children's mothers, many of whom never saw their children again. Moreover, most existing studies centre on the Belgian Congo. Addressing these gaps, the project will focus on the stories of the mothers from Rwanda and Burundi. Through analysis of archival sources located in Belgium and possibly in Rwanda, Professor Hitchcott and Dr Urusaro aim to uncover and evaluate the mothers' positionality alongside the extent and modes of their (non-)compliance in the state-sanctioned abduction of their children.

Dr John Danial and Dr Juan Varela from the School of Physics and Astronomy, alongside Dr Claire Durrant from the University of Edinburgh, received a RSE Research Collaboration Grant for a project entitled 'Angstrom imaging of protein aggregates from living mice and human brains'.

Dr Valerie Wallace, Lecturer from the School of History received a RSE Personal Research Fellowship for a project entitled 'Scots law and British settler colonialism: Aotearoa New Zealand in the nineteenth century'.

Dr Kate Cowcher from the School of Art History also received a RSE Personal Research Fellowship for a project entitled 'From Dar to Dunoon: Rural Scotland and the global reach of African modernist art'.

The Fellowship will enable Dr Cowcher to produce a monograph to accompany her five-year research and public impact project recovering the important histories of African modernist artworks in the publicly owned Argyll Collection.

This work continues Dr Cowcher's partnership with Argyll and Bute Council and CHARTS (Culture Heritage and Arts, Argyll and Isles), as well as with former University of St Andrews Global Fellow Dr Angelo Kakande and Makerere University, Uganda.

Dr Peter Mackay from the School of English received a RSE Personal Research Fellowship for a project entitled 'Collected poems of Alasdair mac Mhaighsitr Alasdair'. Commenting on the Award, Dr Mackay said: "I amdelighted to have this opportunity to work on one of the most important Gaelic poets of the 18^thcentury, and to bring his work to a new international audience, to help him get the recognition he deserves."

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