University of Otago researchers have gained more than $18m in the latest annual Marsden Fund round for 25 world-class research projects that push the frontiers of knowledge.

The Otago projects will be led by researchers from across the University's Divisions of Health Sciences, Humanities, and Sciences. Otago researchers will use their new funding to answer unsolved questions in the theory of gravity and to explore the untold history of the children fathered by US servicemen stationed in the South Pacific during WWII.

Other researchers will examine the effects of excessive maternal weight gain during pregnancy, and yet others will investigate the basic mechanisms involved in learning and memory.

Other projects delve into topics with important implications for the health and productivity of our oceans, such as iron fertilisation and ocean acidification. Several research projects will use state-of-the-art forensic techniques to solve mysteries about the lives, health and environments of ancient peoples in New Zealand and the Pacific.

Research Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Harlene Hayne congratulated the recipients on their outstanding performance in a very competitive funding round that saw only a 12 per cent success rate nationally for applications.

"Our recipients, who range from early-career researchers to eminent professorial staff, have demonstrated that their research is at the cutting-edge."

"I am extremely proud that for the 5th year in a row, our researchers have captured more Marsden funding than any other institution in New Zealand. Otago's continued success in this extremely competitive funding environment is a good indicator of the high calibre of our research programmes."

The four "Fast Start" grants awarded to promising researchers in the early stage of their research careers are especially pleasing, she says. Among the recipients of Fast Start grants is the Department of Botany's Dr Tina Summerfield, who will investigate how cyanobacteria regulate their metabolism.

These organisms, which produce hydrogen in low-oxygen environments, may potentially be a future source of clean energy. Marsden grants are administered by the Royal Society of New Zealand and support research excellence in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, social sciences and the humanities.

This year, $66m was distributed amongst 15 institutions in New Zealand.