Research

The calibre of University staff and academics and the significance of the work undertaken at Cambridge are reflected in the awards and prizes received each year. This section gives just a small insight into the people behind the University’s worldwide reputation; it includes some of the new appointments made this past academic year and mentions just a few of the many accolades received.

Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, former Chief Executive of the Medical Research Council, was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University, replacing Professor Dame Alison Richard on 1 October 2010. Sir Leszek is supported by a team of five Pro-Vice-Chancellors, three of whom were appointed in January 2010: Dr Jennifer Barnes (International Strategy); Professor Lynn Gladden (Research); and Professor Ian White (Institutional Affairs). They join Professor Steve Young (Planning and Resources) and Professor John Rallison (Education). Lord Watson of Richmond has been elected to the office of High Steward of the University, in place of Dame Bridget Ogilvie who resigned after eight years in this high office.

Other appointments this year include: Professor Dame Ann Dowling, Head of the Department of Engineering, and Professor Howard Chase, Head of the School of Technology. The University has announced the appointment of two new professors in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP): Richard Jozsa, Leigh Trapnell Professor of Quantum Physics, and Paul Linden, G I Taylor Professor of Fluid Mechanics. Professor Jozsa is regarded as one of the founders of the subject of quantum information science and is renowned for his many fundamental contributions to the field. Professor Linden is an eminent fluid mechanist and a leading figure in environment and sustainability research. Michael Green, a distinguished theoretical physicist who pioneered String Theory, has been elected as the 18th Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, succeeding Stephen Hawking. Doug Crawford Brown was appointed Executive Director of the Cambridge Centre for Climate Mitigation Research, and Peter Hayler became Associate Vicar at Great St Mary’s Church and Chaplain to University staff.

To mark the University’s 800th Anniversary, HM The Queen created a new Regius Professorship, by conferring the royal title on the University’s Professorship of Botany. Regius Professor Sir David Baulcombe is the first incumbent of the chair, which is held in the Department of Plant Sciences – the discipline that underpins the preservation of natural heritage and biodiversity, food security, and the development of medicines and important fuels. It is the first time Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has designated a Regius Professorship – and the first time since the early 20th century that such an honour has been bestowed by any monarch, underlining the significance of this area of learning and research. The new Regius Professorship joins six others in Cambridge – Divinity, Hebrew, Greek, Physic, Civil Law, and Modern History.

Five Cambridge academics have been recognised in the Queen’s New Year Honours list for 2010:

• Paul Mellars, Professor of Prehistory and Human Evolution, Department of Archaeology, has been knighted for his services to scholarship;
• Robert James Mair, Master of Jesus College and Professor of Geotechnical Engineering, has been made a CBE for services to engineering;
• Dr Andrew Herbert, Managing Director of Microsoft Research in Cambridge, has been made an OBE for services to computer sciences;
• Dr Peter Clarkson, Emeritus Associate at the Scott Polar Research Institute, and David Duke, Principal Technician in the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, have also been awarded MBEs.

The Vice-Chancellor Emerita and two leading Cambridge academics featured in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list: Professor Alison Richard has been appointed Dame Commander of the Order of British Empire (DBE) for services to higher education; and Professor Athene Donald, Deputy Head of the Cavendish Laboratory, and Director of the Women in Science, Engineering and Technology Initiative, has been appointed DBE for services to physics. Colin Humphreys, Emeritus Goldsmiths’ Professor of Materials Science, and Director of Research in the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, has been awarded a knighthood for services to science. Sir Colin has also become the Master of the Armourers and Brasiers’ Company in London, whose charity, the Gauntlet Trust, is the largest charity supporting materials science in the UK.

Eight Cambridge academics have been elected Fellows of the British Academy in recognition of their contribution to the humanities and social sciences:

• David Abulafia, Professor of Mediterranean History;
• Mary Beard, Professor of Classics;
• Christopher Clark, Professor of Modern European History;
• Dr Alan Baker, Life Fellow of Emmanuel College;
• Deborah Howard, Professor of Architectural History;
• Juliet Mitchell, Emeritus Professor of Psychoanalysis and Gender Studies, and Founder Director of the Centre for Gender Studies;
• Dr Karalyn Patterson, Senior Research Fellow, Department of Clinical Neurosciences;
• Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, Master of Sidney Sussex College, and newly appointed Honorary Professor in the Faculty of Classics.

Seven Cambridge academics have been elected to British Academy Fellowships in recognition of their research achievements:

• Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, Director of the Autism Research Centre;
• Philip Ford, Professor of French and Neo-Latin Literature;
• Jonathan Haslam, Professor of History of International Relations;
• Mary Jacobus, Director of the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, and Professor of English;
• Dr John Marenbon, Senior Research Fellow of Trinity College;
• Susan Rankin, Professor of Medieval Music;
• John Duncan, Honorary Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience.

Five Cambridge academics have been elected Fellows of the Royal Society: Andrea Brand, Gurdon Institute and Herchel Smith Professor of Molecular Biology; Professor Nicola Clayton, Department of Experimental Psychology; Professor Ben Green, Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics; Professor Roger Hardie, Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience; and Professor Max Pettini, Institute of Astronomy. A further five have been elected to the Academy of Medical Sciences: Sir David Baulcombe, Regius Professor of Botany and Royal Society Research Professor, Department of Plant Sciences; William Bonfield, Emeritus Professor of Medical Materials; Anthony Holland, Professor of Developmental Psychiatry (Learning and Disability), Department of Psychiatry; Gordon Smith, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology; and Maria Grazia Spillantini, Professor of Molecular Neurology, Clinical Neurosciences. The Royal Society has also awarded Professor Christopher Dobson, Master of St John’s, a Royal Medal for “his outstanding contributions to the understanding of the mechanisms of protein folding and misfolding, and the implications for disease”; Dr Andrea Ferrari, Department of Engineering, has received a prestigious Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award, in recognition of his proven outstanding ability to undertake independent, original research.

Three Cambridge academics at the Institute of Astronomy have been honoured for their outstanding contribution to astronomy by the Royal Astronomical Society: Professor Douglas Gough, Leverhulme Emeritus Fellow, formerly Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics and Director of the Institute, has been awarded the Gold Medal for Astronomy – the Society’s highest award; Craig Mackay, Professor of Image Science, has been awarded the Jackson-Gwilt Medal for his long-term work on astronomical instrumentation; and Dr Barbara Ercolano, Visiting Researcher, has been awarded the Fowler Prize for her work and development on the MOCASSIN code, one of the most important astrophysical tools to have been created during the past decade.

Dr Helen Mason, Assistant Director of Research, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, has been named as one of the UK Resource Centre’s Women of Outstanding Achievement 2010, for her inspirational work in communication within science, engineering and technology. The Millennium Maths Project has won the prestigious Inspire Mark by the Olympic Games for its new Maths + Sport: Countdown to the Games project, which explains the maths and science behind the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics. The catalogue accompanying the record-breaking exhibition Endless Forms: Charles Darwin, Natural Science and the Visual Arts at the Fitzwilliam Museum has been awarded the 2009 William M B Berger Prize for British Art History.

Professor Austin Smith, Director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Stem Cell Research, has won this year’s Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine for his pivotal role in stem cell research – the prize rewards Europe’s top biomedical researchers. Professor Shankar Balasubramanian has been named Innovator of the Year by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council in recognition of his work on Solexa sequencing, a high-speed genome sequencing technology that is revolutionising bioscience.

Professor John Williams has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. He is distinguished as the originator of the spiral groove pumping seal, which is widely used in the oil and gas handling industries. Dr Matthew Juniper and Rolls Royce received the Environmental Technology Award at The Engineer magazine’s Technology and Innovation Awards. They have jointly developed a software tool that can help in the design of cleaner jet engines. Dr Dan Tucker and colleagues from the Department of Veterinary Medicine and the Royal Veterinary College have won the Dieter Lütticken Award for developing a new way to study respiratory diseases in cattle and other species without having to use live animals.