Nine UK scientific leaders celebrated at Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists awards ceremony
London, UK: On Tuesday 27 February, the Blavatnik Family Foundation and the New York Academy of Sciences honoured the research of nine scientists in the fields of Physical Sciences & Engineering, Chemistry, and Life Sciences at the seventh annual ceremony of the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK.
Now in its seventh year, the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK represents the most substantial unrestricted awards for UK scientists under the age of 42, contributing £3.3 million to support researchers in UK academia since their establishment. Acknowledged globally within the scientific community, they play a crucial role in fostering the involvement and acknowledgment of early career scientists.
Professor Irene Tracey CBE, FMedSci, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford and renowned neuroscientist, presented the ceremony and awards, remarking: “Tonight, we are not only recognising the exceptional work that our Blavatnik Awards honourees have already done, we’re also asserting our belief in ideas and a world where these scientists and others can pursue those ideas, for the future benefit of all.”
Commenting on the Awards’ impact, President and CEO of the New York Academy of Sciences, Nicholas B. Dirks said: “To date, Blavatnik Awards honourees have founded 72 companies, with over 50 of them founded after they were first recognised by the Blavatnik Awards, and six of which have traded on the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ. These outstanding individuals are using science to advance the public good while driving economic growth worldwide.”
Sir Leonard Blavatnik, Founder and Chairman of Access Industries and Head of the Blavatnik Family Foundation added: “Congratulations to the exceptional winners of this year’s UK Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists. We are proud that the Awards continue to support the careers of inspiring individuals, whose scientific research will pave the way for a brighter future.”
For each category—Physical Sciences & Engineering, Chemistry, and Life Sciences— a Laureate was awarded £100,000, and two Finalists were each awarded prizes of £30,000. This year’s Awards celebrated advancements including enhanced crop growth through innovative RNA structure research, detecting life-signalling molecules on planets beyond our solar system, creating unprecedented enzymes, and pioneering the encoding of photons for high-capacity quantum communication networks. As each honouree was recognised, the audience viewed a film introducing their groundbreaking research before they were presented with a Blavatnik Awards medal.
To watch the honouree films, click on the links to the honouree profile pages below:
Laureates
Anthony Green, PhD (Chemical Sciences) – The University of Manchester
Rahul R. Nair, PhD (Physical Sciences & Engineering) – The University of Manchester
Nicholas McGranahan, PhD (Life Sciences) – University College London
Finalists
Fernanda Duarte, PhD (Chemical Sciences – The University of Oxford
Samuel D. Stranks, DPhil (Chemical Sciences) – The University of Cambridge
Jayne Birkby, PhD (Physical Sciences & Engineering) – The University of Oxford
Mehul Malik, PhD (Physical Sciences & Engineering) – Heriot-Watt University
Tanmay Bharat, PhD (Life Sciences) – MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
Yiliang Ding, PhD (Life Sciences) – John Innes Centre
Speeches were made by each of the Laureates after receiving their medals, where they highlighted their research and the importance of the awards for shedding light on their respective fields.
Today (Wednesday 28 February), each of the Laureates and Finalists will present their groundbreaking research during the Blavatnik Awards public symposium “Sparking Innovation: UK Scientists Changing Our World” taking place at RSA House, London.