Three Bristol academics have received Royal Society-Wolfson Research Merit Awards in the latest funding round: Professor Paul Valdes in the School of Geographical Sciences, who specialises in modelling natural climate change; Professor David Smith in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, whose research focuses on how materials behave when they are subjected to thermal and mechanical loads; and Professor Stephen Hayden in Physics, who studies the collective behaviour of the conduction electrons in solids.

The awards are jointly funded by the Wolfson Foundation and the Office of Science and Technology. Around 25 awards are made each year to respected scientists of outstanding achievement and potential. Applications are co-ordinated through the Campaigns and Alumni Relations Office. The latest round brings the total number of awards to Bristol academics to 14.