Royal Society of Chemistry Prizes and Awards

Do you know an outstanding chemist who deserves recognition? This is your chance to raise awareness of those who are making a positive impact in the chemical sciences. The Royal Society of Chemistry aims to use our international platform to showcase outstanding researchers from all areas of the chemical sciences through a variety of awards and prizes. There are over 60 awards and prizes that are now accepting nominations for 2020, including team awards that allow self-nomination. 

We recognize the importance of valuing all members of our community and as a professional body and voice for the chemical science community, we believe that we have a responsibility to promote inclusivity and accessibility in order to improve diversity. In line with our commitment to support diversity and inclusion, it is important for nominators to note that the guidelines for the number of years since completing a PhD are suggestions rather than rigid boundaries. We understand that some of the most deserving nominees may have had challenging or unusual career paths, and aim to recognize researchers and educators from a wide variety of backgrounds including those who have taken non-traditional career paths. We don’t require that nominators be senior researchers, and encourage people from all career levels to nominate their peers and colleagues and tell us about the people who you feel have made a difference.

Lectureships to Recognize Early- and Mid-Career Researchers

In addition to RSC-wide awards, several of our high-quality journals present lectureships to researchers in various stages of their careers. The winners of these awards are nominated by members of their community and carefully considered by the journal Editorial Boards. Not only are publications and citations considered as factors in the decision, but also engagement with and service to the community. Make sure to nominate colleagues before the deadlines, summarized here, and you can find more information about each of these below.

ChemComm Emerging Investigator Lectureship 2020

The ChemComm Emerging Investigator Lectureship recognizes emerging scientists in the early stages of their independent academic career. Eligible nominees should have completed their PhD in 2012 or later but appropriate consideration will be given to those who have taken a career break or followed a different study path. The recipient of the lectureship will be invited to present a lecture at three different locations over a 12-month period, with at least one of these events taking place at an international conference. The recipient will receive a contribution of £1500 towards travel and accommodation costs for their lectures, as well as a certificate. The recipient will be asked to contribute a review article for the journal.

Learn more and submit your nomination. The nomination deadline is November 29th, 2019.

ChemSocRev Pioneering Investigator Lectureship 2020

The ChemSocRev Pioneering Investigator Lectureship recognizes mid-career scientists who have firmly established themselves in their independent careers, continuously publish innovative work, and have pioneered several research areas. Eligible nominees should have completed their PhD between January 2004 and December 2011, but appropriate consideration will be given to those who have taken a career break or followed a different study path. The recipient of the lectureship will be invited to present a lecture at three different locations over a 12-month period, with at least one of these events taking place at an international conference and will receive a contribution of £1500 towards travel and accommodation costs for their lectures, as well as a certificate. The recipient will also be asked to contribute a review article for the journal.

The 2019 ChemSocRev Pioneering Investigator Lectureship was awarded to Professor Yujie Xiong from the University of Science and Technology of China this past summer. Prof Xiong presented his lecture at the International Symposium on Energy Conversion and Storage Materials Conference 2019 in Brisbane, Australia on July 31st, 2019, at the European Research Society 2019 Fall meeting in Warsaw, Poland on September 17th, 2019, and the his third lecture will soon be determined.

Learn more and submit your nomination. The nomination deadline is November 29th, 2019.

Biomaterials Science Lectureship

Coinciding with the presentation of the 2019 Biomaterials Science Lectureship to Professor April Kloxin from the University of Delaware at the European Society for Biomaterials Meeting in September 2019, nominations for the for the 2020 Biomaterials Science Lectureship were opened and will be accepted through November 30th 2019. We are pleased to congratulate Prof Kloxin for winning the 2019 award and to recognize her achievement in advancing the field. The winner of the 2020 Biomaterials Science Lectureship, which will be announced in April 2020, will be asked to present a lecture at the 11th World Biomaterials Congress, taking place in Glasgow in May 2020. The recipient will also be asked to contribute a lead article to the journal and will have their work showcased free of charge on the front cover of the issue in which their article is published.

This annual award was established in 2014 to recognize an early-career researcher who has made a significant contribution to the field of biomaterials science. Candidates should be independent researchers who are at an early stage of their independent career; this is typically within approximately 12 years of attaining their doctorate or equivalent degree, but appropriate consideration will be given to those who have taken a career break, for example for childcare leave, or followed an alternative study path. Nominators do not have to be senior researchers and nominations from community members at all levels are encouraged. Candidates will be notified of their nomination and asked to provide three recent articles that reflect their current research. They will be assessed by a shortlisting panel made up of Biomaterials Science Advisory Board members as well as a previous lectureship winner. The shortlisted candidates will be assessed by the journal’s Editorial Board and selected using an anonymous poll.Selection is not based simply on quantitative measures. Consideration will be given to all information provided in the letter of recommendation and candidate CV, including research achievements and originality, contributions to the biomaterials community, innovation, collaborations and teamwork, publication history, and engagement with Biomaterials Science. 

Learn more and submit your nomination. The nomination deadline is November 30th, 2019.

Polymer Chemistry Lectureship

The Polymer Chemistry Lectureship was established in 2015 to honor an early-career researcher who has made significant contributions to the field of polymer chemistry. The 2019 Lectureship was awarded to Dr. Frederick Wurm from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research after consideration of many worthy nominations.The recipient is chosen by the Editorial Board from a list of candidates nominated by the community. Nominations are now being accepted through the end of November. Candidates should be independent researchers, having completed PhD and postdoctoral studies, actively pursuing research within the polymer chemistry field, and having made a significant contribution to the field. They should be at an early stage of their independent career, which is generally within 15 years of attaining their doctorate or equivalent degree, but appropriate consideration will be given to those who have taken a career break, for example for childcare leave, or followed an alternative study path.

The recipient of the award will be asked to present a lecture at the Warwick Polymer Meeting in 2020, where they will also be presented with the award. The Polymer Chemistry Editorial Office will provide financial support to the recipient for travel and accommodation costs. The recipient will also be asked to contribute a lead article to the journal and will have their work showcased free of charge on the front cover of the issue in which their article is published. 

Learn more and submit your nomination. The nomination deadline is November 30th, 2019.

Soft Matter Lectureship

If you know an early-career researcher that you believe deserves recognition for her or his contribution to the soft matter field, the Soft Matter Lectureship is your opportunity to highlight their work to leaders in the community.  Nominations for the 2020 Soft Matter Lectureship are now being accepted, since the start of September through November 30th 2019.The recipient of the award will be asked to present a lecture at an international conference in 2020, where they will also be presented with the award. The Soft Matter Editorial Office will provide financial support to the recipient for travel and accommodation costs. The 2019 Soft Matter Lectureship award was presented to Professor Tim White from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Prof White gave his lecture at the 5th International Soft Matter Conference, held in Edinburgh from June 3-7, 2019. 

Candidates should be independent researchers who have completed their PhD and postdoctoral studies and actively pursuing research in the soft matter field. They should be an early stage of their independent career, generally about 12 years out from attaining their PhD, although this is, of course, only a loose guideline and nominations for candidates who have taken an alternate study or career path are welcome. Selection is not based simply on quantitative measures. Consideration will be given to all information provided in the letter of recommendation and candidate CV, including research achievements and originality, contributions to the soft matter community, innovation, collaborations and teamwork, publication history, and engagement with Soft Matter. 

Learn more and submit your nomination. The nomination deadline is November 30th, 2019.

JAAS Emerging Investigator Lectureship

The JAAS Emerging Investigator Lectureship recognizes and supports an emerging scientist working in the area of atomic spectrometry in the early stages of their independent career. The winner of the 2019 JAAS Emerging Investigator Lectureship was announced earlier this year and we are pleased to congratulate Dr. Maria Costas-Rodriguez from the University of Ghent.

To be eligible, nominees will be have published in JAAS  and should generally have finished their PhD in the last ten years, although that is simply a guideline and not a hard boundary for those who have followed a different career trajectory. The recipient of the lectureship will present their research at a relevant high-profile international meeting (to be agreed with the Editorial Office) and receive a contribution of £2000 to cover associated travel and accommodation costs. They will be awarded a certificate and asked to contribute a Primary Research or Review Article to JAAS. Nominations should be received by the Editorial Board by January 31st, 2020 for consideration. 

The Editorial Office will screen each nomination for eligibility and draw up a shortlist of candidates based on the nomination documents provided. The lectureship winner will be selected by the JAAS Editorial Board based on the originality, quality, impact and significance of the candidate’s research, as highlighted in their nomination.

Learn more and submit your nomination. The nomination deadline is January 31st, 2020.

Analyst Emerging Investigator Lectureship

Now in it’s third cycle, the Analyst Emerging Investigator Lectureship is an excellent platform to recognize an early-career researcher in the analytical sciences. This biannual award was established in 2016 to raise the profile of the analytical sciences to the wider scientific community and general public. The winner of the 2018 Analyst Emerging Investigator Lectureship was Professor Wei Min from Columbia University. He received his award at the SciX 2018 meeting, where he also presented his plenary lecture.

Nominees will typically will be within 10 years of completing a PhD, although consideration will be given to candidates who have taken an alternate study or career path.The editorial team will screen each nomination for eligibility and draw up a shortlist of candidates based on the information provided by nominators. The recipient of the Lectureship will then be selected by the Analyst Editorial Board. The award winner will receive up to £2,000 towards travel costs to attend and present a lecture and will receive an invitation to contribute a review to Analyst in the following year. 

Learn more and submit your nomination. The nomination deadline is February 29th, 2020.

Other 2019 and 2020 Lectureships

Keep an eye out for other lectureships and prizes throughout the year, as the calls for nominations and announcements vary by different journals. Here is some information on the other lectureships that the RSC offers and the typical timelines when you can expect to submit nominations.

Energy & Environmental Science Readers’ Choice Lectureship 2019

Recognizing and supporting those at an early stage of their independent career within the fields of energy and environmental sciences, the lectureship is a platform for early career researchers to showcase their research to the wider scientific community. Formerly based on the most-read articles within the journal in a given year, we are delighted to announce that from 2019, the EES Lectureship will be awarded through a nominations process, whereby nominations of candidates are invited from our fantastic community. The winner of the 2019 Lectureship will be announced in early 2020. The winner of the 2018 Energy & Environmental Science Readers’ Choice Lectureship was Professor Guo-Liang Chai from Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter (FJIRSM), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). 

PCCP Emerging Investigator Lectureship 2019 and 2020

Nominations were accepted  in June and July of this year and the winner, who is decided at the fall Editorial Board meeting will be announced soon. Selected articles published by winners have been showcased in a special PCCP Emerging Investigator Lectureship themed collection. Look for next year’s call for nominations in the spring of 2020, and nominations are typically accepted throughout June and July before the winner is announced in the late fall or early winter.

Lab on a Chip/Dolomite Pioneers Lectureship 2019 and 2020

The “Pioneers of Miniaturization” Lectureship, sponsored by Dolomite and Lab on a Chip, is for early to mid-career scientists who have made extraordinary or outstanding contributions to the understanding or development of miniaturized systems. The winner of the 2019 “Pioneers of Miniaturization” Lectureship was announced in July of this year; the award was presented to Professor Hang Lu from Georgia Tech at the µTAS 2019 Conference, which was held in Basel, Switzerland, on October 27-31 2019. Look for the call for the 2020 Pioneers of Miniaturization Lectureship in early spring of 2020, typically accepting nominations in March-May. 

Journal of Materials Chemistry Emerging Investigator Lectureship

The Journal of Materials Chemistry Emerging Investigator Lectureship winner is determined by the Editors-in-Chief of Journal of Materials Chemistry A, B, and C. The 2019 winner was announced on September 30th, 2019. Congratulations to Professor Qiang Zhang from Tsinghua University! Look for the call for nominations for the 2020 award in June and July of 2020.

MedChemComm Emerging Investigator Lectureship 2019

The recipient of the 2019 MedChemComm Emerging Investigator Lectureship was announced in March of this year; congratulations to Professor Amanda Hargrove from Duke University on winning the award. MedChemComm is undergoing a transformation! We are excited to announce that starting in 2020, the journal will be called RSC Medicinal Chemistry – a change that will allow the journal’s title to better reflect the content that it publishes – research articles and reviews, and not only communications. Look for more information on lectureships next year.

Natural Product Reports Emerging Investigator Lectureship 2019 and 2020

Nominations were open for the 2020 Natural Product Reports Emerging Investigator Lectureship in August and September 2019 and the winner will be announced in the late winter or early spring of 2020. The winner of the 2019 Natural Product Reports Emerging Investigator Lectureship was awarded to Professor Mohammad R. “Mo” Seyedsayamdost from Princeton University and he was presented with his award at the 2019 spring ACS Meeting in Orlando. 

Connor Easley from UC Riverside, Chair of the UCCS, and Jade Fostvedt From UC Berkeley at the 2019 University of California Chemical Symposium.

This year the University of California Chemical Symposium, the 4th annual meeting since its founding by Prof. Seth Cohen from UC San Diego, continued to grow and develop into the world’s premier chemistry conference run entirely by and for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. This year’s UCCS brought nearly 150 attendees from across the University of California and beyond. Special guests this year included the opening keynote presentation for the inaugural Ursa Lecture from Nobel Laureate from CalTech, Professor Rudolph A. Marcus. Prof Marcus delivered a beautiful talk on ‘Connecting the Dots’ along his lengthy and impressive career, inspiring attendees to pursue their own research with the same curious and optimistic attitude.

The closing keynote lecture was given by the inaugural Lux Lecturer, Prof Michelle Chang from UC Berkeley, who is also an Associate Editor for Chemical Science. The attendees enjoyed how approachable and interesting her lecture was for a broad audience, even those who previously had no experience with chemical biology. 

Not only were the plenary speakers phenomenal in sharing the stories of their research, but the student and postdoc attendees also gave excellent oral and poster presentations. Several RSC journals provided research presentation prizes to recognize these outstanding young researchers. The RSC’s flagship journal, Chemical Science,  provided Research Presentation Prizes for oral presentations and several other RSC journals supported the meeting by sponsoring prizes for poster presentations. 

Nobel Laureate Prof Rudy Marcus delivers the inaugural Ursa Lecture at the 2019 University of California Chemical Symposium at Lake Arrowhead, March 24, 2019.

Oral Presentation Prizes

Nor Akmalia Rais, graduate student in the Xue group at UC Riverside, receives her Chemical Science Research Presentation Prize from Chair Connor Easley at the 2019 University of California Chemical Symposium in Lake Arrowhead.

The RSC’s flagship journal, Chemical Science,  provided Research Presentation Prizes for oral presentations in each of the six sub-categories of disciplines in the chemical sciences. The oral presentation prize in the ‘Analytical’ category went to Nor Akmaliza Rais from the Cheng Research Group, led by Prof Quan “Jason” Cheng at UC Riverside, for her talk on ‘Nanoparticle Enhanced Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) Biosensing on an Antifouling Lipid Membrane in Undiluted Serum.’

The Chemical Science prize in the ‘Chemical Biology/Biochemistry’ category went to Tyler Heiss from UC Irvine for his presentation ‘Cyclopropeniminium Ions Exhibit Unique Reactivity with Bioorthogonal Phosphines.’ Tyler is a graduate student in the Prescher Lab, led by Prof Jen Prescher, who actively posts about the group’s activities on Twitter.

Tyler Heiss, graduate student in the Xue group at UC Riverside, receives his Chemical Science Research Presentation Prize from Chair Connor Easley at the 2019 University of California Chemical Symposium in Lake Arrowhead.

Caleb Karmel, graduate student in the Hartwigroup at UC Berkeley, receives his Chemical Science Research Presentation Prize from Chair Connor Easley at the 2019 University of California Chemical Symposium in Lake Arrowhead.

The Chemical Science prize in ‘Organic Chemistry’ went to Caleb Karmel from the Hartwig Group at UC Berkeley for his talk on the ‘Iridium-Catalyzed Silylation of Aryl C-H Bonds.’

Dr. Ido Ben-Shalom from UC San Diego receives his Chemical Science Research Presentation Prize from Chair Connor Easley at the 2019 University of California Chemical Symposium.

Prizes also went to Andrew Ostericher for his presentation in the ‘Inorganic’ category for the ‘Rational Tuning of Hydrogen Transfer for CO₂ Reduction and Hydrogen Evolution’ and Sebastian Hietzschold for his presentation in the ‘Materials/Nano’ category, ‘Reductase-Free Synthesis of Highly Monodispersed Silver Nanoparticles Using NADPH as the Sole Reducing Agent.’The ‘Physical/Theoretical/Computational’ prize was awarded to Dr. Ido Ben-Shalom for his talk on ‘Simulating Water Exchange to Buried Binding Sites.’

Poster Prizes

Zhili Guo, graduate student in the Xue group at UC Riverside, receives the Analyst poster prize from Chair Connor Easley at the 2019 University of California Chemical Symposium in Lake Arrowhead.

From Analyst, the poster prize went to Zhili Guo from UC Riverside. The title of his poster was ‘A Chemical Approach to Quantify Fatty Acid Uptake in Single Cells.’ Like Nor, who won the oral presentation prize in this category, Zhili is a graduate student in the research group of Min Xue, which is focused on developing chemical probes to achieve single-cell resolution for bioanalytical methods. Work like Zhili’s would enable more precise detection of metabolites from tumor cells, for example, which would allow surgical treatments for cancer to be more effective.The Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry prize in the Chemical Biology/Biochemistry category went to Sierra Williams from UC Irvine for her work on ‘Orthogonal Bioluminescent Probes from Hybrid Luciferins.’

Sierra Williams, graduate student in the Prescher group at UC Irvine, receives the OBC poster prize from Chair Connor Easley at the 2019 University of California Chemical Symposium in Lake Arrowhead.

Samuel Jacob, graduate student at UC Santa Barbara, receives the Dalton Transactions poster prize from Chair Connor Easley at the 2019 University of California Chemical Symposium in Lake Arrowhead.

The prize from Dalton Transactions for the ‘Inorganic’ category went to Samuel Jacob from UC Santa Barbara for his poster, ‘Investigation of a Redox Active Tetra-Nickel Cluster for Small Molecule Reactivity.’

Ling Zhang, graduate student from UC San Diego, receives the Materials Horizons poster prize from Chair Connor Easley at the 2019 University of California Chemical Symposium in Lake Arrowhead.

Margery Cortes-Clerget, graduate student from UC Santa Cruz, receives the ChemComm poster prize from Chair Connor Easley at the 2019 University of California Chemical Symposium in Lake Arrowhead.

The Materials/Nano prize from Materials Horizons went to Ling Zhang from UC San Diego for her poster on ‘Hyper-Expandable Self-Healing Macromolecular Crystals.’

The ‘Organic’ category prize from Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry went to Margery Cortes-Clerget from UC Santa Barbara for her poster, ‘Bridging the Gap Between Transition Metal- and Bio-Catalysis.’

The PCCP poster prize in the Physical/Theoretical category went to A’Lester Allen from UC Santa Cruz, for his poster on the ‘Development of a Hollow Multibranched SERS Based Biosensor for Early Disease Detection.’

Lightning Talks

One unique aspect of the UCCS is the Lightning Talks, which are short, minimalist and direct presentations. With a total of 5 minutes and 3 (non-animated) slides allowed , speakers have only 3 minutes to talk and 2 minutes to answer questions about their work. The topics are broad and cover the span of the chemical sciences. The audience participates by live-voting on their favorite talks, to crowd-source judging to determine the winners. This year’s Lightning Talks were all fabulous, but there were a few that really stood out to this particular audience. 

The first place winner and recipient of a $100 cash prize was Jade Fostvedt from UC Berkeley for her talk, ‘Towards Low Valent Early Metal Systems: Small Molecule Reactivity of Tantalum N-Heterocyclic Carbene Complexes.’The second place winner and recipient of a $50 cash prize was David Nenon from UC Berkeley for his talk, ‘Design Principles for Trap-Free CsPbX₃ Nanocrystals: Enumerating and Eliminating Surface Halide Vacancies with Softer Lewis Bases.’The third place award and a $25 cash prize went to Myles Drance from UC San Diego for his talk on ‘Coordination of Diatomic Boron Monofluoride to Iron.’

Congratulations to all of these award winners from the 2019 UCCS who gave outstanding presentations to their peers and experts in the field. We hope that everyone was able to share their research and also share in the research of others at the meeting, and we are already looking forward to the next one!