Nominations have opened for the 2007 Boyle Medal award for excellence in scientific research. The award competition is open to any scientist who has made a substantial and long-term contribution to the advancement of science through research endeavour, writes Dick Ahlstrom
The 2007 award will be made to a scientist or pure mathematician of any nationality working anywhere in Ireland, north or south. The recipient will also receive a €40,000 bursary, used to finance the cost of a PhD candidate or post-doctoral researcher who will spend the three to four years of their graduate programme working with the Boyle Medal laureate
The winner will be selected after a two-stage adjudication process involving Irish and international peers. The winner will be announced in the summer of 2007.
The Royal Dublin Society introduced the Boyle Medal award for scientific excellence in 1899 to recognise "scientific research of exceptional merit carried out in Ireland". During its first 100 years, 32 medals were presented to some of Ireland's leading scientists. It takes its name from one of Ireland's most famous scientists, Robert Boyle (1627-1691), who did so much to shape modern scientific practice through the introduction of detailed experimental methods.
The RDS and The Irish Times decided in the medal's centenary year to relaunch the Boyle Medal award programme. The award is now given every second year, alternating between a researcher of any nationality conducting exceptional research on the island of Ireland and an Irish-born scientist who has achieved world-recognised research successes abroad. The decision to provide an award for Irish scientists working outside Ireland was taken to mark the undoubted success many of our émigrés have had on the world scientific stage.
The 2007 Boyle Medal will celebrate work done by a scientist or mathematician working in Ireland. Nationality is no issue in this case, nor whether the applicant conducts their company or university research north or south of the Border. The key requirement is that they will have completed scientific work of exceptional merit over some period of time and will have made a significant contribution to scientific knowledge.
Scientists may not nominate themselves for the award. Applications will only be accepted from designated nominators and must meet the criteria indicated on the nomination form, a copy of which may be printed from either The Irish Times or the RDS web sites, given below.
Applications must come from the president or head of a college, faculty or research institute. Nominations may also come from the managing director or head of research function within a company on behalf of an employee or from the secretary of a professional body. The initial judging panel will consist of up to 10 people who have been chosen from universities and companies in Ireland. The RDS Science Committee and The Irish Times will each nominate one judge with the remainder being selected from the various scientific disciplines. This panel will be chaired by Prof Dervilla Donnelly and will compile a shortlist of up to five finalists.
An international panel of up to five judges will then be selected to assess the shortlisted nominees. The international peers will then choose an overall winner. The international peers will be selected to reflect the scientific disciplines of the shortlisted nominees.
No names or details of the nominees nor the shortlisted candidates will be published or released by either the RDS or The Irish Times. No nomination may be accepted from a board member, director, or a member of staff of the RDS, The Irish Times, or from a member of the judging panel.
The Boyle Medal award programme is part of a continuing effort by the RDS and The Irish Times to promote the value and benefits of scientific research to the widest audience possible.
The two organisations arrange a series of public scientific lectures featuring well-known commentators and experts and most of these lectures are free.
The closing date for Boyle Medal nominations is Wednesday, January 31st, 2007. More information and copies of the rules and nomination forms are available from www.ireland.com/newspaper/science/boyle or from www.rds.ie/boylemedal, tel: 01-6758676 or 01-2407217.