Three Imperial researchers have won prestigious Royal Society awards

Experts in arthritis treatments, particle physics experiments and materials science have been recognised for excellence in their fields.

Emeritus Professor Sir Ravinder Maini, Professor Sir Tejinder Virdee FRS, and Dr Jessica Wade URF are among 25 Royal Society medals and awards winners this year. 

Sir Adrian Smith, President of the Royal Society said, “The scope of scientific knowledge and experience in this year’s line-up is amazing. These outstanding researchers, individuals and teams have contributed to our collective scientific endeavour and helped further our understanding of the world around us.  

“I am proud to celebrate outstanding science and offer my congratulations to all the 2024 recipients of the Royal Society’s medals and awards.” 

Emeritus Professor Sir Ravinder Maini 

Emeritus Professor Sir Ravinder Maini has been jointly awarded the Royal Medal (Applied), with Professor Sir Marc Feldmann from the University of Oxford, for developing anti-TNF therapy to treat rheumatoid arthritis.  

Anti-TNF therapy works by blocking the action of a protein called tumour necrosis factor (TNF), and targets the inflammation and tissue damage caused by a number of inflammatory diseases.   

Before the development of anti-TNF therapy, inflammatory conditions were frequently treated with disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARD), including medications like methotrexate. These drugs work by reducing the activity of the immune system, but may not be suitable or effective for all patients.

Professors Maini and Feldmann brought anti-TNF treatment from bench to bedside in one of the biggest success stories of modern medicine. The pair’s research laid the groundwork for new biologic drugs which have helped to improve the quality of life for millions of people around the world with rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune conditions. 

Professor Maini said: “The news of the award was a joyful surprise, more so that I was sharing it with my friend and colleague, Marc Feldmann. I feel that we owe our achievement to the team of scientists and clinicians we led from 1985 to the 1990s.  

“External collaboration, including with the biotechnology company whose humanised monoclonal antibody we employed in therapeutic clinical trials, also played a key part. I am delighted that our scientific research is of sufficient merit to be awarded The Royal Medal for applied science.” 

Professor Sir Tejinder Virdee FRS 

Professor Tejinder ‘Jim’ Virdee, from the Department of Physics, is awarded the Royal Society’s Royal Medal (Physical) for “extraordinary leadership and profound impact on all phases of the monumental CMS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider, including the crucial discovery of the Higgs boson through its decays to two photons”. 

He is a founding father of the Compact Muon Solenoid Collaboration (CMS) at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and has played a major role in all phases of the experiment, from conception and design, through construction to the extraction of science. He was involved in almost all the major decisions made for the experiment. 

Professor Virdee pioneered some of the experiment’s techniques and analysis methods, crucial for the discovery of the Higgs boson, announced by the CMS and ATLAS experiments in July 2012. His current work involves deeper studies of the Higgs boson, searching for new physics, and the design of the upgrades of the CMS detector. 

Amongst the prizes he has won is the 2013 European Physical Society-HEPP prize, the 2013 Fundamental Physics Prize, and the 2017 American Physical Society Panofsky Prize. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2012 and was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 2014. 

Professor Virdee said: “It is an immense honour and privilege to receive the Royal Medal and be associated with an advance in science, namely the discovery of the Higgs boson by the ATLAS and CMS experiments. I believe that the Medal not only celebrates fundamental science but also recognizes the audacious undertaking of the many scientists, engineers and technicians from around the world, who, over several decades have come together to build and operate the powerful experiment that is CMS.” 

Dr Jessica Wade URF

Dr Jessica Wade, from the Department of Materials, is awarded the Rosalind Franklin Award and Lecture for her achievements in functional materials and her outstanding project which will support early-career women scientists to pursue academic careers in materials sciences. 

Dr Wade is a Royal Society University Research Fellow and Lecturer in Functional Materials. 

Her research considers new materials for optoelectronic, spintronic and quantum devices, with a focus on chiral molecular materials. Dr Wade is on the Management Board of QuEST, Imperial’s Centre for Quantum Engineering, Science and Technology, co-lead of the Materials for Quantum Network Spin and Topology Group and Chair of SPIE’s EDI committee.  

Outside of the lab, she is involved with several science communication and outreach initiatives. She is committed to improving diversity in science, both online and offline, and since the start of 2018 has written the Wikipedia biographies of women and scientists of colour every single day.  

Dr Wade said: “There’s no part of this that isn’t incredible: to be recognised by the Royal Society, to win an award honouring the legacy of Rosalind Franklin, to secure the funding to develop training programmes for early career scientists. I’m beyond thrilled.” 

She credits her own success to the support she has had from across the university, saying: “There’s no way I would be where I am without the support of Prof Sandrine Heutz, who mentored me through my Imperial College Research Fellowship and inspires me as Head of Department.

"I was also lucky enough to be trained by Matt Fuchter, Alasdair Campbell, Simon Foster, Lesley Cohen and Ji-Seon Kim  – Imperial is full of fantastic science, and fantastic scientists: we’re very lucky. I think all early career researchers should have the same opportunities to succeed as we get at Imperial.” 

Professor Dame Molly Stevens FREng FRS

Professor Dame Molly Stevens, who is now based at University of Oxford but still holds a part-time professorship at Imperial, is awarded the Armourers and Brasiers Company Prize. This recognises her achievements in pioneering nanomaterials for ultrasensitive disease diagnostics and advanced therapeutic delivery for the benefit of individuals and society at a global level.

Professor Stevens’s research is centred on understanding and designing the interface between materials and biological systems to develop materials-based solutions for regenerative medicine, diagnostics, and therapeutics. This includes designing biomaterials that elicit tissue regeneration, creating controlled drug delivery systems to target disease sites and reduce systemic side effects, and developing ultrasensitive biosensors for early disease detection. A key aim is to develop flexible, effective, and more accessible tools that do not rely heavily on complex equipment or trained personnel, making them usable even in the most resource-limited settings. 

A major driver for her work is to design innovative solutions that will be accessible to broad populations, by working with people in the field to maximise impact. For instance, Professor Stevens has worked with collaborators in South Africa on early diagnosis of tuberculosis and HIV, and in collaboration with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to develop long-acting formulations for contraceptives and vaccines. 

Professor Stevens, from University of Oxford and Imperial's Departments of  Materials and Bioengineering, said, ‘I am delighted to receive this award which recognises the dedication and creativity of my amazing team of researchers and students. Our wonderful interdisciplinary team is very motivated to keep working towards transformative healthcare technologies that are accessible to all.’