The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry and Solvay announce the winners of the 2024 IUPAC-Solvay International Award for Young Chemists, presented for the best Ph.D. theses in the chemical sciences, as described in 1000-word essays.
The five winners are:
- Dr Subhajit Bhattacharjee (India), Ph.D., University of Cambridge, UK
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0596-1073 - Dr Robert Thomas O’Neill (United Kingdom), Ph.D., University of Liverpool, UK
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4348-7635 - Dr Gabrielle Mandl (Canada), Ph.D., Concordia University, Canada
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6630-4371 - Dr Ming-Yu Qi (China), Ph.D., Fuzhou University, China
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3937-1987 - Dr Jiaobing Tu (Singapore, USA), Ph.D., California Institute of Technology, USA
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7653-6640
The winners will each receive a cash prize of USD 1000 and travel expenses to the 2025 IUPAC Congress, to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from 11-18 July 2025. Each winner will also be invited to present a poster at the IUPAC Congress describing his/her award-winning work and to submit a short critical review on aspects of his/her research topic, to be published in Pure and Applied Chemistry. The awards will be presented to the winners of the 2024 and 2025 competitions during the Opening Ceremony of the Congress.
The titles of the winners’ theses are:
- Dr Subhajit Bhattacharjee: “Photoelectrochemical and Chemoenzymatic Reforming for Sustainable Fuel Production”
- Dr Robert Thomas O’Neill: “Stiff Stilbene as a Mechanochemical Force Probe for Fundamental Studies and Small Molecule Manipulation”
- Dr Gabrielle Mandl: “On the Development of Pr3+-doped Radioluminescent Nanoparticles for X-ray Mediated Photodynamic Therapy of Glioblastoma Cells”
- Dr Ming-Yu Qi: “Function-Oriented Design of Photoredox Coupled Catalysis System Based on Semiconductor Quantum Dots”
- Dr Jiaobing Tu: “Wearable Sweat Sensors for Disease Monitoring and Management”
There were 44 applications from individuals receiving their Ph.D. degrees from institutions in 19 countries. The award selection committee, chaired by Professor Javier García-Martínez, IUPAC Past President, comprised members of a wide range of experience in chemistry and a senior science advisor from Solvay.
In view of the many high-quality applications, the Committee also decided to award four Honorable Mentions to:
- Dr Sagar Bhattacharya (India, USA), Ph.D., Syracuse University, USA
- Dr Karam Idrees (USA), Ph.D., Northwestern University, USA
- Dr Itai Massad (Israel), Ph.D., Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Israel
- Dr Nicolas M Morato (Colombia/USA), Ph.D., Purdue University, USA
The call for applications for the 2025 IUPAC-Solvay International Award for Young Chemists will open soon. Eligible candidates must have received a Ph.D. or equivalent degree in any of the countries that have National Adhering Organizations in IUPAC during the year 2024.
Announcement published in the Oct 2024 issue of Chemistry International (eTOC) or doi)