The shortlists for two awards sponsored by Research Councils UK (RCUK) were announced
last week by Times Higher Education (THE). Competition for the 18 THE awards this
year will be fiercer than ever before, with a record number of entries received
from over 137 institutions. Both RCUK sponsored awards received many inspiring and
deserving entries, so that selecting just six for each shortlist was extremely difficult.
The Serendipity award, which is a newcomer this year, recognises entrepreneurial
spirit in universities, rewarding researchers who have seen and seized unexpected
opportunities for impact arising from their research. The Outstanding Support for
Early Career Researchers award is now in its fourth year and provides an opportunity
to highlight some of the excellent ways in which researchers are supported in developing
the skills that will aid them in their future career paths.
The shortlists for the RCUK sponsored awards are below:
Serendipity Award - sponsored by Research Councils UK
- Professor Christopher McGuigan (Cardiff University) - anti-HIV drugs
used to treat shingles
- Professor Leslie Hough and Dr Alison Campbell (King's College London)
– the discovery of sucralose
- Dr Mark Moloney (University of Oxford) – penicillin research applied
to plastic modification
- Professor Sir Peter Mansfield (University of Nottingham) - invention
of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
- Dr Edward Lester (University of Nottingham) - invention to solve
significant manufacturing problem facing the nanomaterials industry
- Professor John Stark (Queen Mary, University of London) - research
developed for micro-propulsion of spacecraft applied to new printing technology
Outstanding Support for Early Career Researchers - sponsored by Research Councils
UK in association with Vitae
- University of Cambridge: a popular career management event for research
staff
- Durham University: a range of support for doctoral candidates which
has been tailored to ensure inclusiveness, particularly with reference to part-time
research students, those pursuing their studies through distance-learning and
international students
- University of Edinburgh: a scheme which supports a wealth of innovative
and imaginative researcher-led initiatives to broaden ownership of the wider
agenda for researchers' career management and development
- University of Manchester: an event (and associated workshops) to
enhance the career skills and effectiveness of early career researchers
- University of Nottingham: a placement programme from the Arts Graduate
Centre which provides workplace experience and explores how skills have been
developed
- University of Oxford: a mentoring scheme which helps researchers
to engage more in their own personal and career development
The winners will be announced at the Awards evening at the Grosvenor House Hotel,
Park Lane, London, on 15 October. Full details of the awards and other shortlisted
entries are available on the Times Higher Education
website.
Notes
Contact:
Chloë Somers
RCUK Press Officer
Tel: 01793 444592
Vitae is a UK wide programme to support researcher development and further information
is available at
www.vitae.ac.uk
Research Councils UK is the strategic partnership of the UK's seven Research
Councils; they invest annually around £3 billion in research, covering the full
spectrum of academic disciplines from the medical and biological sciences to astronomy,
physics, chemistry and engineering, social sciences, economics, and the arts and
humanities.
The seven UK Research Councils are:
- Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC);
- Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC);
- Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC);
- Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC);
- Medical Research Council (MRC);
- Natural Environment Research Council (NERC);
- Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC).