Professor Pier Palamara has been announced as one of eleven Oxford University researchers awarded European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grants, part of the EU’s Horizon Europe programme. The grants, totalling €728 million this year, support mid-career researchers working on cutting-edge research to develop their most promising scientific ideas.
Professor Palamara will use his grant to develop methods for modelling genetic variation using genealogical graphs and to introduce new approaches for studying heritable traits and diseases in large and diverse datasets. The ARGgen project will develop a framework for creating large-scale genealogical models that describe how genomes are connected through shared ancestors, making it easier to analyse genetic data and study human evolutionary history. In addition, the project will develop new statistical and machine learning algorithms to uncover the genetic determinants of heritable traits and diseases using large-scale genomic and health datasets.
Professor Palamara said: ‘This grant will enable us to build methods that can handle the scale and diversity of modern biobank datasets, providing new insights into human evolutionary history and heritable traits. I am very grateful to the ERC, and to my team and collaborators.’
Speaking about the Oxford recipients, Professor James Naismith, Head of the Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences (MPLS) Division, said: ‘These ERC awards recognise exceptional ambition and talent. Each project has the potential to deepen scientific understanding and deliver tangible benefits for society – from biodiversity and climate resilience to sustainable technologies and advanced chemistry.’
Professor Palamara is joined by fellow MPLS Division recipients James Maynard (Mathematical Institute), Jan Pich (Department of Computer Science), Erin E Saupe (Department of Earth Sciences), Fernanda Duarte (Department of Chemistry), Robert Weatherup (Department of Materials) and Rob Salguero-Gómez (Department of Biology).
ERC Consolidator Grants are highly competitive; this year 349 proposals were selected from 3,121 applications: a success rate of 11.2%. Each recipient will receive up to €2 million over five years.
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