External Recognition of PhD, PDRA and Technical Excellence at Conferences

News

Posted on Wednesday 30 September 2026

We celebrate the excellent science done by our Department’s PhD, PDRA and technical co-workers by recognising the prizes and awards have won in 2026 so far.

Some of the prize winners with the head of Department Derek Wann

Many of our PhD, PDRA and technical colleagues attended conferences to present their work as posters or talks in 2026. Of course, everyone’s contribution is important, and the excellent quality of these presentations has been recognised by over 20 awards and prizes. These prizes have been awarded for research in the Chemical Sciences from across all our major research themes .

We are proud to celebrate:

Helena King (WACL/Evans group), best poster, International Global Atmospheric Chemistry

Ben Melling (Unsworth and Grogan groups), best talk, CheM62 meeting

Megan Goss (Sneddon group), best poster, CheM62 meeting

Ben Grace (Walton group), best poster, RSC Inorganic Biochemistry Discussion Group Jubilee meeting

Jack Heaton (Weller group), best presentation by an Early Career Researcher, International Conference on Coordination Chemistry

Gowri Satish (Bruce and Lynam groups), best poster, RSC Dalton Division Northern Regional Meeting

Dominykas Dautoras (Weller and Wang groups), best poster, International Conference on Coordination Chemistry, and RSC Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson Dalton poster symposium

Sophie Barber (Buchard group), best poster, SCHEMA Hub Autumn conference

Izzy Hehir (Halse group), runner-up oral presentation prize, RSC NMR Discussion Group Postgraduate Meeting

Richard Gammons and Megan Goss (Green Chemistry Sustainability Team), highly commended award and finalists in UK and Ireland Green Gown Awards

Charlotte Stapleton (WACL/Carpenter groups), best poster, Royal Society of Chemistry Faraday Community Poster Symposium, and UK Atmospheric Chemistry Conference

Lyndsay Ives (WACL/Carpenter groups), best student presentation prize, UK Atmospheric Chemistry Conference

Alice Hewson (Parkin group), best poster, International Symposium on Bioelectrochemistry and Bioenergetics of the Bioelectrochemical Society

Esme Hutton (Fascione group), ECR talk prize, North of England Cell Biology Meeting

Gustavo Clauss Rodrigues (Frei group), best poster award, AIchemy Symposium

Niamh McArdle (Fairlamb and Willans groups), best poster, Johnson Matthey Academic Conference

Elisha Stanbridge (Willans group), best presentation, Johnson Matthey Academic Conference

Alice Martin (Willans group), poster prize, SynTech 2026

Congratulations to them, and all of our PhD, PDRA and technical colleagues, who presented their cutting-edge research at conferences so-far this year.