National recognition for outstanding York academic

Posted on Tuesday 13 September 2011

Professor Howard Wilson is one of 26 academics across the United Kingdom to receive a Wolfson Research Merit Award which recognises outstanding scientists.

I am honoured to receive this award, which has been made possible by the outstanding research environment created by all of my colleagues

Professor Howard Wilson

Jointly funded by the Wolfson Foundation and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the scheme provides universities with additional funding to enable them to attract to this country or retain respected scientists of outstanding achievement and potential.

Professor Wilson is a theoretical plasma physicist working in the field of fusion energy research. He is the founder of the York Plasma Institute, a partnership between the University and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, which is creating a world-class, interdisciplinary plasma research centre.

The York Plasma Institute is in the University’s Department of Physics. It provides a unique research and education facility in the UK, bringing high temperature plasma studies for fusion energy under the same roof as low temperature technological plasma studies. The aim is to exploit synergies between the fields and related disciplines, and drive collaborations with industry.

Professor Wilson said: “I am honoured to receive this award, which has been made possible by the outstanding research environment created by all of my colleagues in the Plasma Physics and Fusion Energy Group of the York Plasma Institute.”

A Fellow of the Institute of Physics, Professor Wilson recently received a Gold award for excellence in recognition of his outstanding leadership and innovation in the University’s new Vice Chancellor’s Awards for Outstanding Achievement.