Dr Cécile Gubry-Rangin from the School of Biological Sciences was recently named as one of the Royal Society's newly appointed University Research Fellows for 2016.
The University Research Fellowship scheme aims to provide outstanding early career scientists, who have the potential to become leaders in their chosen fields, with the opportunity to build an independent research career. The scheme is extremely competitive and URFs are expected to be strong candidates for permanent posts in universities at the end of their fellowships, and many have gone on to enjoy significant national or international recognition for their work.
Dr Gubry-Rangin said: “I am delighted to have been awarded this prestigious fellowship, which will allow me to continue my research career here at the University of Aberdeen.
“The central aim of my fellowship is to use recent revolutionary advances (such as single-cell genomics) to understand the mechanisms that generate vast microbial diversity in nature. I will address this by studying a microbial group, the Thaumarchaeota, which are very diverse and abundant in soil and have enormous environmental and economic impacts because of their role in nitrification (resulting in greenhouse gas production and in the loss of more than $70 billion per year of nitrogen fertilisers).”
Dr Gubry-Rangin started her URF on last month and met the other recently appointed Royal Society fellows at Buckingham Palace on October 20, upon invitation by his Royal Highness the Duke of York, KG Royal Fellow.