Roscoe medal and Gold award winner

Chemistry Research Fellow Dr Yuval Elani (supervised by: Oscar Ces/Rob Law/Nick Brooks) who earlier this year secured an EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship was awarded the Roscoe medal and Gold award (1st place) for the Chemistry session at SET for Britain on Monday 9 March at the Houses of Parliament.

The gold, silver, and bronze winners were selected from thirty finalists, who had been shortlisted from many hundreds of entries for the annual competition. They all presented posters summarising their work in the chemical sciences to MPs and a jury of experts in the field.

Dr Elani claimed the top prize – a gold medal and £3000, for his presentation Building Artificial Cells from the Bottom-Up about his research developing artificial cells that mimic biological ones for medicinal and drug delivery applications. Yuval was delighted at wining the prize and commented: “It’s a great honour. This was a different experience to scientific conferences. It will encourage me to try to engage more with non-scientists and engage people with some of the great science that is happening in the UK.”

Mr Andrew Miller MP, Chairman of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee, said the future of British science was in safe hands: “This annual competition is an important date in the parliamentary calendar because it gives MPs an opportunity to speak to a wide range of the country’s best young researchers.

Professor Helen Fielding, from the Royal Society of Chemistry, said: “As a member of the chemistry judging panel, it has been inspirational to see so many excellent posters from the finalists. Chemistry is crucial to society, playing an important role in energy, health, food, and tackling climate change. 

“Inspiring young people into science is also crucial for the UK’s economic growth and job creation. We hope that many more talented scientists – like these finalists – have the opportunity to contribute to society. I’m thrilled to see such excellent and inspiring science going to Parliament.”

Angela Strank, Chief Scientist at BP, sponsor of the Physical Sciences Gold Award said: “BP is pleased to sponsor the SET awards, which recognise outstanding examples of science and engineering from young people in the UK.  We see great value in encouraging the next generation of scientists and engineers into the fascinating world of STEM at an early stage of their education and career.”

Photo © to John Deehan