The Chilean National Science Agency (CONICYT: Comisión Nacional the Investigación Ciencia y Tecnología) recently reported the selection of awarded projects for the Fondecyt Iniciación 2020 and the Max-Planck Institute (MPI) Conicyt grants. These grants consist of funding for a period of 3 years, to develop cutting edge research on topics relevant for the scientific development of Chile. The MPI-Conicyt grant focuses on research done alongside collaborations with researchers at the Max-Planck Institutes.

Among the 12 awarded Fondecyt Iniciación projects in the “Astronomy, Cosmology and Particles” discipline, three were awarded to faculty members at the UDP Astronomy Nucleus: Professors Alice Zurlo,  Claudio Ricci and Thomas Maedler, for research on searches for extrasolar planets,  studies on the nature of galactic black-holes and understanding the effects of gravitational wave memory, respectively.

Among the 10 awarded MPI-Conicyt projects in all sciences (biology, physics, mathematics, etc), only one was awarded to Astrophysics, corresponding to the one led by Professors Manuel Aravena and Roberto Assef at the UDP Astronomy Nucleus, in collaboration with Dr. Eduardo Bañados and Dr. Fabian Walter at the Max-Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany. The research to be conducted focuses on studies of galaxy and quasar evolution through cosmic time and luminosity.

Our congratulations to our excellent researchers!