University Chemist to receive prestigious award

Monday, 25 February 2013

Professor Howard Colquhoun from the Department of Chemistry has been awarded the Macro Group UK Medal for contributions to polymer science.

The Macro Group UK Medal is awarded annually to a UK based scientist who has made a significant and substantial contribution to the development of polymer science through their scientific achievements and services to the UK polymer science community. Professor Colquhoun will receive a silver medal and be invited to give an award lecture later in the year.

Professor Colquhoun is one of the most creative and innovative polymer scientists in the world today and his contributions have made a substantial impact in the field of polymer science. Polymers are chemical compounds formed by a process known as polymerisation and consist of very large molecules containing of many repeating structural units. His work has focused mainly on the design, synthesis, and characterisation of specialised polymers for application in the fields of aerospace composites, fuel cells, and water purification membranes.

Professor Colquhoun said: "I am very honoured to receive this award, especially as Macro Group UK represents both industry and academia, and my own research has always been directed not only towards the fundamental aspects of polymer science, but also towards real-life applications."

Professor Colquhoun has received a number of other awards for his research including the RSC Medal and Prize for Materials Chemistry (2006), the Royal Society Leverhulme Senior Research Fellowship (2007) and the Wilsmore Fellowship of the University of Melbourne (2007). He has served on numerous scientific committees and advisory boards and on the organising committees and advisory boards of several recent international conferences. He is currently President of the Materials Chemistry Division of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2012-15).

The Pure and Applied Macromolecular Chemistry Group (Macro Group UK) is a joint interest group of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Society of Chemical Industry. One of the responsibilities of Macro Group is to represent the interests of UK polymer scientists at national and international levels.