In May 1960, Solly Zuckerman approached Waddington on behalf of the Ford Foundation, who wished to stimulate research into the physiology of reproduction. Waddington replied putting forward the names of Beatty and Anne McLaren as best placed for taking this research opportunity further. An application was submitted to the Ford Foundation in August 1960, but it appears that nothing further occurred until February 1963, when Professor Emil Witschi (consultant to the Ford) approached Waddington about potential Ford Foundation support for work in population control. An application was submitted and proved successful: in July 1963, the Ford Foundation awarded the University of Edinburgh a grant of $40,000 over a four-year period for research in the genetics and physiology of reproduction by R.A Beatty and Anne McLaren within the ARC Unit of Animal Genetics at the Institute of Animal Genetics. The grant partly funded four new laboratory rooms and a building known as 'the Ford Hut' at the Institute.