Dalton mid-career prize: Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson Prize
The Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson Prize is awarded for outstanding contributions to any area of inorganic chemistry made by a mid-career scientist.
Details
| Status | Closed |
|---|---|
| Nominations opening date | 21 October 2025 12:00am |
| Nominations closing date | 14 January 2026 12:00am |
| Nominator eligibility | ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø members |
| Nominee eligibility | Individuals |
| Nominee location | UK and Ireland |
| Career stage | Mid career |
About this prize
Nominations for this prize will close on Wednesday 14 January 2026 at 17:00 GMT.
The Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson Prize is awarded for outstanding contributions to any area of inorganic chemistry made by a mid-career scientist.
- 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 Dalton Prize Selection Panel
Eligibility
Individuals named in any of the following roles during the nomination and judging period are not eligible to nominate, or be nominated:
- Dalton 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 a mid-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 20 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.
- References are not required for this award and will not be accepted.
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 panel 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
- Collaborations and teamwork
- Other indicators of esteem indicated by the nominator
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 was established to recognise the life of and numerous scientific contributions made by Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson. The prize was formerly known as the Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson Lectureship.
Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson graduated from Imperial College, London in 1941. He went on to work in the chemistry field in Montreal, Berkeley (CA), Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University until he returned to England in 1955. He was appointed chair of Inorganic Chemistry at Imperial College London, where he worked on the complexes of transition metals.
Well known for Wilkinson's catalyst, used in the hydrogenation of alkenes and for discovering the structure of ferrocene, he was also awarded a Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work on organometallic compounds in 1973. He died in 1996, aged 75.
In 2020, following an independent review of the ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø of Chemistry's recognition programmes, the scope of this prize evolved to recognise contributions to any area of inorganic chemistry made by a mid-career scientist.
The prize was established in 1999 through donations from publishers, chemical industry, students and colleagues of Wilkinson. 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 | Professor Rebecca Melen | Cardiff University | Awarded for insights into the reactivity of frustrated Lewis pairs by single- and two-electron pathways. |
| 2024 | Professor Michael Ingleson | University of Edinburgh | Awarded for new approaches to C–H borylation using zinc catalysts and bis-borane electrophiles. |
| 2023 | Dr Adrian Chaplin F·¬ÇÑÉçÇø | University of Warwick | Awarded for contributions to organometallic chemistry involving the imaginative use of pincer ligands. |
| 2022 | Dr Michael Cowley M·¬ÇÑÉçÇø | The University of Edinburgh | Awarded for advances in reactivity of and catalysis of aluminium compounds. |
| 2021 | Dr James Wilton-Ely | Imperial College London | Awarde for contributions to the application of metals in biological sensing and medical imaging. |
| 2020 | Professor Alan Goldman | Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey | Awarded for deep and scholarly insight into the mechanisms of organometallic reactions and the design of organometallic catalysts. |
| 2018 | Professor Polly Arnold | University of Edinburgh | Awarded for pioneering research on transuranic organometallic chemistry. |
| 2016 | Professor Guy Bertrand | University of California San Diego and CNRS | Awarded for his discovery of stable carbenes and their applications in organometallic synthesis and catalysis. |
| 2014 | Professor Tobin Marks | Northwestern University | Awarded for his pioneering work in organometallic chemistry, particularly with regard to catalysis, as well as his work in materials chemistry from molecular sources. |
| 2012 | Professor Geoffrey Cloke | University of Sussex | Awarded for his extensive and many facetted contributions to inorganic and organotransition metal chemistry. |
| 2010 | David Milstein | The Weizmann Institute of Science | Awarded for his outstanding research in homogeneous catalysis by metal complexes especially his development of pincer complexes for unprecedented catalytic transformations. |
| 2009/10 | Bruno Chaudret | Laboratoire de Chimie de Coordination, France | Awarded for recognition of his outstanding research on the synthesis of nanoparticles from organometallic precursors and for his studies of metal dihydrogen and related complexes. |
| 2007/08 | Professor Ernesto Carmona | University of Seville | Awarded for his outstanding contributions to the study and understanding of low-valent molybdenum and tungsten complexes including pioneering work on the coordination chemistry of carbon dioxide, the structural properties of main group metal organometallic and cyclopentadienyl compounds, the study of interactions between actinide organometallic compounds and carbon monoxide, and detailed mechanistic studies of the properties of late transition metal allyl compounds and their relevance to a range of catalytic reactions. |
| 2005/06 | Professor David J Cole-Hamilton | University of St Andrews | Awarded for his significant and innovative development of catalyses effected by transition metal complexes and for new and original insights concerning the mode of action of several of these systems. |
| 2003/04 | Professor Harry B Gray | California Institute of Technology | Awarded for his contributions to several areas of modern inorganic chemistry with special reference to the spectroscopy, photochemistry and electron-transfer mechanisms of metal coordination compounds and metal centres in proteins. |
| 2001/02 | Professor Richard R Schrock | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Awarded or his outstanding creativity in the synthesis of organometallic compounds of the transition metals, especially those containing metal-carbon bonds, and their application as catalysts for olefin metathesis reactions. |
| 1999/00 | M L H Green |
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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 Claire Carmalt
University College London, UK
Dr Clare Bakewell
King's College London, UK
Professor Ross Forgan
University of Glasgow, UK
Dr Ulrich Hintermair
University of Bath, UK
Dr Sebastian Pike
University of Warwick, UK
Professor Marcel Swart
University of Girona, Spain
Dr Ruth Webster
University of Cambridge, UK