The winner of the 2019 Ede and Ravenscroft Postgraduate Research Student Prize is Isabella Poli, PhD student of Sustainable Chemical Technologies from the Department of Chemistry.
The Ede and Ravenscroft Postgraduate Research Student Prize is awarded annually on behalf of Senate by the Ede and Ravenscroft Postgraduate Research Student Prize Committee to a postgraduate research student on the basis of a high standard of achievement.
The title of Isabella’s presentation was ‘Clean hydrogen fuel powered by the sun’. In her talk, Isabella explained clearly the process taken to unlock hydrogen trapped inside water molecules using sunlight. She demonstrated the significance of the technology for the ‘green’ production of hydrogen without using fossil fuels.
The Committee, which was chaired by Professor Jonathan Knight, agreed that Isabella was a good presenter who had communicated well her area of research, addressing the need to produce hydrogen in a sustainable way avoiding carbon dioxide emissions. The review of materials for use in transforming solar energy into hydrogen and solutions identified to the challenges of long-term stability contributed to the significance of her work. The Committee based their decision on both Isabella’s presentation and the more detailed account of her research in the nomination paper.
After receiving the award, Isabella said, 'It’s been a great evening and I am truly happy and honoured!'
Research presentations
The Committee was pleased to be able to invite five postgraduate research students from a range of disciplines and research projects to present their work. The quality of research was agreed to be excellent and the ability of presenters to communicate their area of expertise to a general audience was commended. The Committee enjoyed all the presentations and welcomed the questions and comments of the audience.
The other finalists were:
- James Fletcher, Department for Health, Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences - presentation title: 'How best to fix your broken bones'
- Parimala Shivaprasad, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering & Design - presentation title: 'Chemical Process Intensification – Towards a Greener Future'
- Vandana Singh, Department of Education, Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences - presentation title: 'Long Journey to Gender [IM]Balance'
- Ayla Wahid, Department of Biology and Biochemistry, Faculty of Science - presentation title: 'Developing More Effective and Thermostable Vaccines'