Chemistry Biology Interface early career prize: Norman Heatley Award
The Norman Heatley Award is for outstanding contributions made by an early career scientist working at the chemistry and life science interface.
Details
| Status | Closed |
|---|---|
| Nominations opening date | 21 October 2025 12:00am |
| Nominations closing date | 14 January 2026 12:00am |
| Reference deadline | 21 January 2026 12:00am |
| Nominator eligibility | ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø members |
| Nominee eligibility | Individuals |
| Nominee location | UK and Ireland |
| Career stage | Early career |
Previous winners
About this prize
Nominations for this prize will close on Wednesday 14 January 2026 at 17:00 GMT.
The Norman Heatley Award is for outstanding contributions made by an early career scientist working at the chemistry and life science interface.
- Run annually
- The winner receives £3000, a medal and a certificate
- The winner will complete a UK lecture tour
- The winner will be chosen by the ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø Chemistry Biology Interface Prize Selection Panel
Eligibility
Individuals named in any of the following roles during the nomination and judging period are not eligible to nominate, be nominated or provide a reference:
- Chemistry Biology Interface Prize Selection Panel members
- ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø Subject Community Presidents
- ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø Prize Committee members
- Trustees of the ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø of Chemistry
- ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø of Chemistry staff
Nominators:
- Only ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø members can nominate for this prize.
- Nominees may NOT nominate themselves.
Nominees:
- The prize is open to nominees working in the UK and Ireland only.
- Nominees should be an early career scientist (for further details, see information below and in the ‘Guidelines for Nominators’ section).
- Nominees can only be considered for one of our Research & Innovation Prizes in any given year. In a case where a nominee is nominated for more than one prize independently, ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø staff will ask the nominee which prize they would like to be considered for.
- We will not consider nominations of deceased individuals.
Career stage guidance
- After fully taking account of any time away from research, career breaks or interruptions, nominees will typically have no more than 10 years of full-time equivalent professional experience at the closing date for nominations.
- We define this as experience gained as part of a career working in scientific research, excluding time spent in full-time education. For example, experience studying as a postgraduate (PhD) student is not included, but this does include experience working as e.g. a post-doctoral researcher, or working in research in industry.
- Nominators will be asked to provide details of the nominee's professional experience, in relation to the above criteria (see ‘Guidelines for Nominators’). The selection panel will consider this information in relation to the eligibility criteria, and they have the discretion to consider any nomination for a different prize under their remit.
- We particularly encourage nominations of disabled people, those who work part-time, or whose career has spanned a break for any reason – for example, a period of parental or adoption leave, caring responsibilities, long-term illness, family commitments, or other circumstances. We understand that these can impact a nominee’s career in different ways, and encourage nominators to use the space provided on the nomination form to explain the nature and impact of the nominees’ individual circumstances (see 'Guidelines for Nominators' for further details).
General information
- When nominating previous ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø prize winners, please remember that a person cannot be awarded twice for substantially the same body of work.
- Nominees should only be nominated once for this prize in any given prize cycle. In cases where we receive more than one nomination for the same nominee, only one nomination will go forward to judging.
- All unsuccessful nominations from the previous cycle will be retained on our nomination system ahead of the next cycle. To be considered again, nominators must log in, update details, and resubmit the nomination for the following cycle. Please note that reconsideration is no longer automatic.
- ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø staff will write to nominators and nominees to confirm when the nomination window has re-opened. Nominators will receive instructions on how to log in and update the nomination.
Submitting your nomination
Please use our online nominations system to submit the following information:
- Your name, contact details, and ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø membership number (please contact the ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø Membership team if you do not know your membership details).Your ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø membership must be confirmed at the point of nomination – it is not sufficient to have a membership application in process. The identity of nominators is not made known to our judging panels. The ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø reserves the right to amend nominations if necessary to ensure the anonymity of the nominator.
- Your nominee's name and contact details.
- An up to date CV for the nominee (no longer than one A4 side, 11pt text) which should include a summary of their education and career, and a maximum of 5 relevant publications or patents.
- Information relating to your nominee’s career and professional experience, which will be shared with the selection panel. Before doing so, ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø staff will always seek consent from the nominee in cases where special category data is mentioned. Please make sure that you provide enough information for the selection panel to understand the nature and impact of any time away from research.
- Date (month and year) of the start of their career working in scientific research.
- Details (dates and time periods) of any part-time work, time away from research, career breaks or interruptions – for example, parental/adoption leave, caring responsibilities, long-term illness, family commitments, etc.
- Any other circumstances not captured above – for example, long-term conditions, disabilities, etc., that you would like the selection panel to be aware of and consider.
- A short citation describing what the nominee should be awarded for. This must be no longer than 250 characters (including spaces) and no longer than one sentence.
- A supporting statement (up to 750 words) addressing the selection criteria. Our guidance for nominators page has more information on writing this supporting statement.
- A statement (up to 100 words) describing how your nominee has contributed more broadly to the scientific community. A list of possible examples is outlined in the ‘selection criteria’ tab.
- The name and contact details of one referee. The referee might be the nominee's post-doc or PhD supervisor, line manager, project manager or mentor:
- The reference should be a maximum of 750 words. Referees will be asked to state their relationship (if any) with the nominee and note any conflicts of interest.
- All references must be submitted through the online system by the reference deadline, 21 January, 17:00 GMT. Nominations will not go forward to judging without a completed reference. Please ensure you submit your referee's details in plenty of time, to allow them sufficient opportunity to provide their reference.
- As soon you submit your referee’s details, they will receive an automated e-mail with a link to submit their reference. Please contact [email protected] as soon as possible if you experience any issues with this.
- It is the nominator’s responsibility to ensure that the referee is aware of the nomination, that they should expect an e-mail invitation to submit their reference, and that they are aware of what is required to ensure that the reference is submitted before the deadline.
- All referees will receive one e-mail reminder from ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø staff in the week before the reference deadline.
The ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø reserves the right to rescind any prize if there are reasonable grounds to do so. All nominators will be asked to confirm that to the best of their knowledge there is no impediment, relating to professional conduct, to their nominee receiving this prize. All prize winners will be asked to sign the ·¬ÇÑÉçÇøâ€™s Code of Conduct Declaration for Recognition.
Our selection panels base their evaluations on the overall quality of relevant contributions and achievements by nominees, in relation to the selection criteria listed below.
The scientific content of any supporting publications, as described in the supporting statement, is much more important than publication metrics or the identity of the journal in which it is published.
The selection panel will consider the following aspects of nominations for this prize:
- Originality of research
- Impact of research
- Quality of publications and/or patents and/or software
- Innovation
- Professional standing
- Independence
- Collaborations and teamwork
- Other indicators of esteem indicated by the nominator/referee
The selection panel will give greater priority to recent work; supporting statements should focus on the nominee's more recent achievements.
In an instance where multiple nominees are judged equally meritorious in relation to the above criteria, judging panels have the flexibility to use information provided by the nominator on the nominee’s broader contribution to the chemistry community as an additional criterion.
Examples of relevant contributions could include, but are not limited to:
- Involvement with ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø of Chemistry member groups/networks
- Teaching/demonstrating
- Effective mentorship
- Service on boards, committees or panels
- Leadership in the scientific community
- Peer-reviewer
- Promotion of diversity and inclusion
- Advocacy for chemistry
- Public engagement and outreach
This prize is named in honour of Norman Heatley. It was previously advertised as the Chemical Biology Interface Forum Early Career Award, and was established in 2008.
Norman Heatley graduated from St John's College, Cambridge, with a degree in Natural Sciences. He then undertook a PhD in Biochemistry, also at Cambridge, after which he moved to Oxford to work at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology.
Although Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, he did not realise its full potential. It was Professor Howard Florey and his team at Oxford who recognised that penicillin could combat bacterial infection. Heatley played a key role in developing culture methods for the penicillium mould and in extracting and purifying the active 'penicillin' from the cultures in order to test it on animals and eventually on humans also. He designed the specially commissioned ceramic 'bed pans' to grow these cultures on a larger scale.
An Abingdon policeman dying of septicaemia, Albert Alexander, was the first human to be treated with penicillin. As the drug was in such short supply, it was even extracted from the patient's urine on a daily basis in order to be re administered. Dramatic improvements were seen; however, there was not sufficient penicillin to continue with the treatment.
The major drug companies in wartime Britain were already overstretched and so could not be persuaded to attempt to mass produce penicillium cultures. Florey and Heatley flew to the USA where they persuaded several of the largest pharmaceutical companies to collaborate in the research to find better strains of penicillium and better methods of culture, extraction and purification. By 1943, mass production had begun and casualties in the Second World War could be treated. The full potential of penicillin then became clear.
Florey was advised by University lawyers and the MRC that he should not take out patents on his team's discoveries, although subsequently, patents of some of the methods developed were filed in the USA.
Fleming received a Nobel Prize and more than 160 public honours for his part in the discovery and development of penicillin, the world's first antibiotic. Heatley received one honorary degree, a DM from Oxford, the first awarded to a non-medic, and two honorary fellowships and an OBE from the nation for his work.
The prize was established through a bequest from Adrien Albert. In 2021, the purposes of this Trust were amended, and remaining monies were combined with other generous bequests and donations to become part of the ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø Recognition Fund.
| Year | Name | Institution | Citation |
| 2025 | Dr Pietro Sormanni | University of Cambridge | Awarded for pioneering the development of computational methods for antibody design and optimisation, enabling transformative advances in biomedical research and therapeutic antibody engineering. |
| 2024 | Dr Benjamin Schumann | Imperial College London and the Francis Crick Institute | Awarded for the creative use of chemistry-centred tools to provide valuable insights into glycan biology. |
| 2023 | Dr Stephen Wallace | The University of Edinburgh | Awarded for the development of chemical tools and microbial biocatalysts for sustainable synthesis. |
| 2022 | Dr Emily Flashman | University of Oxford | Awarded for the elucidation of molecular mechanisms of oxygen-sensing enzymes in plants and animals, in particular revealing the structural and kinetic properties of plant cysteine oxidases. |
| 2021 | Dr Manuel Müller | King's College London | Awarded for contributions to the field of posttranslational modifications, especially the use of protein chemistry to gain insight into molecular mechanisms of epigenetics processes and cancer. |
| 2020 | Professor Andrew Baldwin | University of Oxford | Awarded for the development and application of chemical methods for understanding the biology of membraneless organelles. |
| 2019 | Professor Justin Benesch | University of Oxford | Awarded for developing physicochemical approaches to deliver quantitative insight into molecular chaperones in health and disease. |
| 2018 | Professor Andrew Dove | University of Birmingham | Awarded for seminal contributions to the chemistry-biology interface through the design and study of novel degradable biomaterials for medical applications. |
| 2017 | Dr Mark Howarth | University of Oxford | Awarded for the creation of a new family of irreversible protein interactions, with wide ranging application, through engineering genetically-encoded peptides. |
| 2016 | Professor Andrew Wilson | University of Leeds | Awarded for the development of methods to interrogate and manipulate protein-protein interactions using biomimetic approaches. |
| 2015 | Professor Mark Wallace | University of Oxford | Awarded for his distinguished work in the area of artificial lipid bilayers, creating a new way of studying membrane proteins. |
| 2014 | Dr Edward Tate | Imperial College London | Awarded for his contributions to the area of antimalarial drug discovery and for pioneering the application of chemical proteomics and its implementation in the identification |
| of novel therapeutic targets. | |||
| 2013 | Professor Rein Ulijn | University of Strathclyde | Awarded for his pioneering work on combining biocatalysis and biomolecular self-assembly in the design of molecular materials including approaches to nanofabrication, enzyme responsive materials and minimal biomolecular self-assembly. |
| 2012 | Dr Judy Hirst | The Medical Research Council Mitochondrial Biology Unit, Cambridge | Awarded for her work as one of the leading international experts on the chemistry of mitochondrial electron transport enzymes. |
| 2011 | David Spring | University of Cambridge | Awarded for your work on diversity generation in organic synthesis and its application to the discovery of novel bioactive compounds including chemical probes. |
| 2010 | Molly Stevens | Imperial College London | Awarded for her pioneering work on tissue engineering and regeneration that combines research skills at the interface of biology, chemistry, engineering and pharmaceutical sciences. |
| 2009 | Ben Davis | University of Oxford | Awarded for his outstanding and innovative contributions to protein-carbohydrate chemical biology. |
Contact our prizes team
We're here to help. Please do not hesitate to contact our prizes team if you have any questions.
Research & Innovation Prizes
Our Research & Innovation Prizes recognise brilliant chemical scientists carrying out amazing work in academia and industry. They include prizes for those at different career stages in chemistry and for those working in specific fields, as well as interdisciplinary prizes and prizes for those in specific roles
Selection panel
Professor Mark Bradley
Queen Mary University of London, UK
Dr Anna Barnard
Imperial College London, UK
Professor Tim Bugg
University of Warwick, UK
Dr Afaf El-Sagheer
University of Southampton, UK
Dr Gemma Nixon
University of Liverpool, UK
Dr Thomas Wilks
Quotient Therapeutics, UK
Dr Andrew Williams
Slowave Therapeutics, UK