RSE Lady Margaret Moir Medal
The RSE Lady Margaret Moir Medal recognises exceptional achievements in physical, engineering and informatic sciences (including mathematics) by an early career researcher. This award meets with the Society’s strategic objectives of recognising and rewarding excellence in, and increasing public understanding of, the physical, engineering and informatic sciences (including mathematics). The awardees are required to have a Scottish connection but can be based anywhere in the world.
Early career researcher is defined as “a researcher with a minimum of two years postdoctoral work experience and no more than ten years postdoctoral work experience” (i.e. research fellows to lecturers in their first academic posts are eligible). For those not based in academia ‘early career’ is defined as “individuals who have demonstrated outstanding ability in their work and professional practice within thirteen years of graduation.”
- Nominations can only be made by Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
- The deadline for nominations is 13:00, 6 December 2023.
- Once into your profile, access and complete the nomination form. Google Chrome is the recommended browser.
Lady Margaret Moir (1864 – 1942) was an Edinburgh-born, engineer, workers’ relief organiser, and founding member of the Women’s Engineering Society in 1919. She was awarded the OBE in recognition of her work in organising the Week End Relief Scheme for women workers during WWI; having witnessed first-hand the challenges of working in munition factories, Moir’s scheme saw herself and other privileged women take the place of full-time workers, allowing the workers weekends off. As President of the Women’s Engineering Society, she promoted engineering courses for women in several polytechnics and was a prominent supporter of ‘electrical education’ – the power of electricity to transform women’s domestic lives and to advance industry.
The RSE relaunched its medals in autumn 2022 to better reflect the important, and often overlooked, input of eminent women to the sciences, arts, and letters in Scotland. The RSE Lady Margaret Moir Medal was formally the RSE Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane Medal.
RSE Lady Margaret Moir Medallists:
| Year | Name(s) | Institution | Awarded |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Dr Emily Draper, YAS Member | University of Glasgow | For her highly innovative research concerning the development of an understanding of self-assembly phenomena as applied to organic electronics and small angle neutron scattering (SANS). Dr Draper has also undertaken a considerable amount of work within the supramolecular Chemistry community concerning equality, diversity, inclusion and accessibility of marginalised chemists. |
RSE Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane Medallists:
| Year | Name(s) | Institution | Awarded |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Dr Jonathan Fraser | University of St Andrews | For his world-leading research in fractal geometry. Through his work, Dr Fraser has pioneered new directions, attracted global interest, and, solved several long-standing problems in the field. In addition, he has been dedicated to outreach activities across Scotland. |
| 2021 | Dr Mehul Malik | Heriot-Watt University | For his work in pushing the boundaries of our understanding of quantum mechanics and its use in modern technologies such as quantum cryptography and communications. His world-leading contributions to understanding high dimensional entanglement and the development of techniques for quantum communications and cryptography are currently adopted in labs worldwide. |
| 2020 | No award made | ||
| 2019 | Dr Martin Lavery | University of Glasgow | For their outstanding contribution to photonics, working on a diverse range of ongoing experiments including free-space optical communications and underwater optical communications. |
| 2018 | Dr Kimberley Kavanagh | University of Strathclyde | For their outstanding, internationally renowned research in public health epidemiology and health informatics. |
| 2017 | Dr Stephen Brusatte | University of Edinburgh | For their outstanding research work in the field of palaeontology and particularly his work on preserving Scotland’s fossil heritage and the impact that is having through his huge public engagement portfolio. |
| 2016 | Dr Malcolm Macdonald | University of Strathclyde | For their outstanding research work in the development and application of space mission systems to challenge conventional ideas and advance new concepts in the exploration and exploitation of space. Dr Macdonald is a member of the RSE Young Academy of Scotland. |
| 2015 | Dr Stefan Hild | University of Glasgow | For their outstanding research work in physics and his international profile in this field. Dr Hild is a member of the RSE Young Academy of Scotland. |
