Prizes

PANalytical Thesis Prize for Physical Crystallography

Thesis Prize 2012

The Physical Crystallography Group is pleased to invite entries for the PANalytical Thesis Prize in Physical Crystallography. The prize will be awarded for the best use of techniques or methods of Physical Crystallography in a successfully examined thesis submitted in the period from 1st September 2010 to 31st December 2011.

To be eligible for the prize, candidates must be a member of the Structural Condensed Matter Group of the IoP and/or the British Crystallographic Association (BCA). Non-members may enter the competition but will be required to join the BCA/PCG at the student rate to progress their nomination further (current rate £10 per annum or £35 for 4 years of the PhD degree).

To enter the competition, candidates must submit: (a) a copy of the thesis in electronic format. (b) a personal statement of not more than 500 words explaining why the thesis should be considered for the prize and including a clear description of the role of Physical Crystallography (as defined on the website www.pcg-scmp.org or otherwise) in the research. (c) the names and contact details of two academic referees, one of whom may be the thesis supervisor, who will be able to comment on the thesis research of the candidate.

In order for a thesis to be eligible for the award, the Physical Crystallography element must be central to the work of the thesis, which must also demonstrate a context over and above structural work for its own sake. Nominations for the prize must be submitted to the PCG-SCMP Chair, Dr. Ivana Evans (ivana.radosavljevic@durham.ac.uk), by 31st January 2012 and the Prize will be awarded at the 2012 BCA Spring Meeting at Warwick University, 16-19th April 2012.

Previous winners

• 2011 Stuart Bland (Department of Physics, Durham University) "X-Ray Scattering Studies of Charge and Orbital Ordering in Transition Metal Oxides"

• 2010 Helen Maynard-Casely (Department of Physics, University of Edinburgh) "The new mineralogy of the outer solar system and the high-pressure behaviour of methane"

• 2009 Aurora Cruz-Cabeza (Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge) “On the Prediction, Rationalisation and Discovery of New Crystal Forms”

• 2008 Lars Lundegaard (Department of Physics, University of Edinburgh) “High-Pressure Difraction Studies of Rubidium Phase IV”

• 2007 Lynne Thomas (Department of Chemsitry, University of Glasgow) “Disorder in Substituted Benzenes by Combined Diffraction and Computational Studies”.

• 2006 Andrew Goodwin (Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge) "Dynamics from Powder Diffraction"

• 2005 Dominic Fortes (UCL) "Crystallisation of Ammonia Hydrates under High Pressure"

The Physical Crystallography Prize

Prize rules in pdf format

Physical Crystallography Prize 2012

The Physical Crystallography Prize is awarded for the best recently published work by a person in the early stages of their career, working in the field of Physical Crystallography, whose research is expected to make a significant impact in the field. The award is traditionally presented at the BCA Spring Meeting and the winner gives a Prize Lecture at that meeting. The Physical Crystallography Prize currently consists of a cash award plus expenses for attending the Spring Meeting to deliver the Prize Lecture.

Nominations for the prize must be submitted to the Chair of the Physical Crystallography Group, Dr. Ivana Evans (ivana.radosavljevic@durham.ac.uk), by 31st January 2012 and the Prize will be awarded at the 2012 BCA Spring Meeting at Warwick University, 16-19th April 2012.

History of the Prize

For many years, Phillips Analytical have sponsored a prize lecture in physical crystallography. Since the purchase of Philips Analytical by Spectris PLC in September 2002 the company is trading under the name of PANalytical Limited. PANalytical agreed to continue to sponsor the annual award for Physical Crystallography, which was renamed the "PANalytical Physical Crystallography Award". Since the 2006 edition, the PCG Committee has been directly sponsoring the prize, which has been again renamed the "Physical Crystallography Award". The award is presented for the best recently published work (say 2-3 papers in the last few years) by a person in the early stages of their career in the field of Physical Crystallography. It is to be expected that his or her research has or is expected to make a significant impact in this field. The award is traditionally made at the Annual BCA Spring Meeting and the recipient is expected to give an oral presentation of his or her work at that meeting. The committee of the Physical Crystallography Group (also known as the Structural Condensed Matter Group of the IoP) decide on the awardee and award the prize, which currently consists of a cash award of £500 plus expenses for attending the Spring Meeting to deliver the award lecture.

Previous winners

• 2010 Dr Christoph Salzmann (Durham)

• 2008 Dr Laurent Chapon (ISIS)

• 2006 Dr Matt Tucker (Cambridge University)

• 2004 Dr Andrew Wills (UCL)

• 2001 Dr Jens Kreisel (Warwick)

• 1999 Dr Mark Harris

• 1998 Dr Alison Pawley

• 1997 Dr Kenneth Harris

• 1996 Dr Chick Wilson (ISIS)

• 1995 Dr Werner Kaminsky

• 1989 Dr Martin Dove (Cambridge)

Remit of Physical Crystallography in connection with Prizes

Methods and techniques of Physical Crystallography will be interpreted in a broad fashion, for example, to include x-ray and neutron diffraction or scattering, Rietveld analysis and structure refinement, total scattering, structure-property relationships, development of structure-solution techniques, crystallography under non-ambient conditions, use of complementary techniques to diffraction (e.g. optical studies, NMR), computational crystallography and modelling, electron diffraction, diffuse scattering, applications of physical crystallography in biology.