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Advocating a Better Future for Postdocs

A headshot of a smiling woman.

Blavatnik Regional Awards Finalist Nicole Lake, PhD, is now a strong advocate for postdoctoral researchers. She offers advice on how postdocs should advocate for one another.

Published September 17, 2024

By Nicole Lake, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Yale Medical School
2024 Blavatnik Regional Awards Finalist in Life Sciences

As postdocs, we are not just passive participants in our journey. We are active shapers of our own experience. We must learn and apply a wide range of skills, from research and teaching to networking and time management.

Another crucial skill we need is self-advocacy – standing up for our needs. Whether negotiating for better resources, obtaining support to attend a conference, securing mentorship, or balancing work-life demands, self-advocacy is vital for our postdoctoral success and well-being. As we move through our postdoc, some of us will also find ourselves stepping into a new role: advocating for others. Whether it’s pushing for better representation, compensation, childcare support, or benefits, advocacy for postdocs by postdocs also plays a central role in shaping the postdoc experience.

During my postdoc, I navigated a journey that saw me grow from advocating for myself to advocating for my peers in the postdoc community. My experience taught me that advocacy goes beyond identifying needs; it also requires the confidence and understanding of how to ask for your needs to be met effectively. Whether advocating for yourself or pushing for change within a department or university, framing an ask around mutual benefits is often key. Before making a request, I consider the other person’s perspective: understanding their viewpoint, finding common ground, and showing how my request will benefit them can often lead to a solution.

Advocating for Fellow Postdocs

My role as a Yale Postdoctoral Association (YPA) Co-Chair had the most significant impact on my advocacy perspective as a postdoc. In this role, I was privileged to advocate for over 1,000 postdocs. The YPA has a proud history of advocating for positive change for the postdocs it serves, and one of the achievements I’m most proud of during my term was securing salary increases to reflect the value of postdocs and their living costs better. I took away two critical lessons from this experience:

  • 1) the power of data-driven advocacy and
  • 2) the importance that the allyship of faculty and staff plays in advocacy success.

In academia, we rely on data to support our hypotheses, and I’ve found this approach equally powerful for advocacy. To better understand, uncover, and address unmet needs in our community, we initiated a university-wide postdoc survey on topics including cost-of-living considerations, and available resources for postdocs, to obtain data, enable data-driven discussions with university leadership, and strengthen our case for change. This survey was a collaborative effort with the postdoctoral office, representing an example of allyship between postdocs and the university, working together to achieve a common goal: improving the postdoc experience.

It’s important to acknowledge that the success of our advocacy didn’t happen in isolation. Within the YPA it was built on the groundwork laid by previous leaders who, for example, established channels for regular dialogue with university leadership—these channels were critical for communicating our requests. Our time as a postdoc is limited, and we may not always see the outcomes of our efforts advocating for better representation, benefits, compensation, and beyond. However, it’s important to remember that our efforts are cumulative and often provide a foundation for future advocates to build upon, contributing to progress long after we’ve moved on.

A Skill Developed Over Time

Finally, I want to share that self-advocacy does not come naturally to me but rather is a skill I’ve had to develop over time. Advocating for others has always come more easily than advocating for myself. Like any other skill, self-advocacy is learned—it requires practice, patience, and persistence. However, it is a skill worth cultivating, given its impact on your career and well-being.

Overall, my journey has shown me the power of advocacy – not only for improving our circumstances but also for improving the experience of others. Whether you’re advocating for yourself or pushing for change to benefit others, advocacy has an essential place in the postdoctoral experience.

About the Author and the Award

Nicole Lake is a 2024 Blavatnik Regional Awards Finalist in Life Sciences.

You can learn more about her and the Blavatnik Awards at Blavatnikawards.org

This piece published on the National Postdoctoral Association member blog as part of 2024 National Postdoc Appreciation Week. Current Academy Members can receive a 20% discount on a National Postdoctoral Association postdoc individual membership by emailing customerservice@nyas.org and requesting the NPA membership discount code

Self-Advocacy Played Important Role in My Journey

Blavatnik Regional Awards Laureate Raghavendra Pradyumna Pothukuchi, PhD, had to advocate for himself to find the right work-life balance. He offers advice so fellow postdocs can do the same.

Published September 17, 2024

By Raghavendra Pradyumna Pothukuchi, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Yale University
2024 Blavatnik Regional Awards Laureate in Physical Sciences & Engineering

Raghavendra Pradyumna Pothukuchi, PhD, celebrates his wife’s birthday with their two children.

We all enjoy science and research, but it’s hard to deny that academic life is grueling. This is especially so as a postdoc, which is a great springboard for one’s career but also brings unique challenges.

Making the most of a postdoc inevitably requires significant effort. Couple this with personal needs, goals, and responsibilities, and you have a fragile contraption of sorts, ready to fall in many ways.

My choice of being a postdoc was born out of an abruptly terminated job search during the COVID-19 fallout. When I graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2020, my kids were 1 and 4, and my dear wife, a fellow PhD in computer science, would soon opt out of work due to long COVID.

My postdoc would be on brain-computer interfaces, and classical and quantum frameworks for cognitive models. It’s exciting — but very new and challenging. I had to balance my research with personal commitments including childcare, my wife’s health, providing long-distance support to my parents living in my home country of India, traveling to help my father while he was being treated for cancer, and, of course, managing my own well-being.

Finding Work-Life Balance

One way that has helped me in making the postdoc process work, is self-advocacy. You are (or can be) your best ally and advocate on issues that matter to you, whether they are about yourself or those that you care about. The definition of being a self-advocate means “identifying your needs and communicating them clearly to help others understand how they can support you”.

There are many valuable resources on self-advocacy, including those at the National Postdoctoral Association (NPA). I’d like to share what I learned from my experience. The first step to self-advocacy is to identify what you need, professionally and personally. These could be resources, compensation, special needs, processes, projects you should be on, or even assistance from people, like teammates and mentors. This step is not easy—it requires time and thought.

One could start with high-level tangible goals such as, readiness for academic job searches within two years, allocating hours for childcare, improving wellbeing in a community you care about, etc.; then move to identify the specific needs to accomplish them. It’s helpful to identify and talk to various stakeholders, such as family and mentors, with whom your plans intersect. On the professional side, a good starting point is the postdoc mentoring plan, which makes career goals and means explicit.

Advocating for Yourself

In my case, I needed a mentor who understood my situation, a system with flexible schedules, reasonable compensation and benefits to support my family, and the leeway to explore new fields. These needs weren’t exhaustive or static, since life changes. However, to the extent possible, it pays to be foresighted so that you don’t appear capricious or importunate, and importantly, that you ask for what actually helps you.

The next step is to identify the people that you would communicate your needs with. This is critical. They should be able to provide what you need and be willing to help. In several cases, this could be your mentor, but it doesn’t have to be. For example, while my mentor was the right person to talk to about compensation and work schedules, it wasn’t so for childcare or other benefits that are set by my university.

Sometimes when asking for policy-level changes, it helps to find others who share your cause. This could be your local postdoctoral association, or the NPA. When I was a grad student, I was concerned about the wellbeing of students in my academic community (computer architecture). At a conference, I met with a fellow student who shared the same cause, and our joint effort led to the creation of a new student association with this mission, CASA. This wouldn’t have been possible if I hadn’t met my co-founder.

The last step is to articulate your needs. This means clearly and politely stating your needs, participating in good faith, and being open. If needed, convey the value you bring to the group.

Identify Your Non-Negotiables

Raghavendra Pradyumna Pothukuchi, PhD, (second from left) with his lab members.

It’s useful to identify which of your needs are non-negotiable. However, it’s also possible that some needs can’t be met, at least not fully or immediately. Be open to alternatives. In my case, my starting postdoc salary was good but not great for my family needs. I brought this up with my mentor, who understood my situation and recommended that we apply for a fellowship, the NSF and CRA computing innovation fellowship, which I received. This took time, but it helped immensely, even beyond the finances.

I hope my experience inspires you to self-advocate. My postdoc journey didn’t happen without making hard choices or giving up things I loved. But I’m glad about my progress—personal and professional (the Blavatnik Regional Award for Young Scientists being one!), and the things I was able to hold on to, and pickup. Self-advocacy played an important role in my journey.

Looking forward, I will continue to practice it as I transition to a tenure-track faculty position at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

About the Author and the Award

Raghavendra Pradyumna Pothukuchi, is a 2024 Blavatnik Regional Awards Laureate in Physical Sciences & Engineering

You can learn more about him and the Blavatnik Awards at Blavatnikawards.org

This piece published on the National Postdoctoral Association member blog is part of 2024 National Postdoc Appreciation Week. Current Academy Members can receive a 20% discount on a National Postdoctoral Association postdoc individual membership by emailing customerservice@nyas.org and requesting the NPA membership discount code

A New Approach to Postdoc Work-Life Balance

A woman poses with her significant others, a river and sunset in the background.

Blavatnik Regional Awards Finalist Amy R. Strom, PhD, offers advice on the subtle differences postdocs must consider when finding work-life balance.

Published September 17, 2024

By Amy R. Strom, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Princeton University
2024 Blavatnik Regional Awards Finalist in Life Sciences

Amy Strom and partner Akshay Tambe.

Is work-life balance truly harder for postdocs than other professions? The short answer is yes, and there’s a reason you’ll find so many “How I Found Balance” articles written by academics. These narratives often focus on the number of hours spent at work versus at home, which is, of course, an essential aspect of balance. However, this narrow focus misses a crucial component: the role of the employer in shaping the work environment.

Achieving balance in the face of obstacles is not just about personal discipline; it often hinges on the resources and support provided by the institution. We should be building structures that empower individuals to create a balanced life.

My own journey in science has required a long-distance relationship during my postdoc, between New Jersey and California. I have had to carefully organize my project timelines and fund cross-country flights in order to spend time with my partner, but even with these personal sacrifices I quickly ran out of leave.

An Individualized Approach

Then I advocated for myself to my mentor and the University to be able to work remotely from out of state without the time away from campus being counted as vacation. As an experimentalist, remote work can be complicated to coordinate, so I am grateful to my partner, to my mentor and to the administrators in my department for their support in identifying a solution that works for my personal situation.

Perhaps establishing this solution and sharing the story will aid postdocs in similar situations in the future (long-distance relationships among academics are not rare), but more practically, it is important for each individual to get the support they need to enact their own personal solutions. I credit my own navigation of my challenges not in small part to coalescing with a group of fellow women grad students and postdocs who face different but equally complex challenges. Together we discuss the difficulties we face and help each other brainstorm potential solutions. Women in Science groups and other shared identity groups provide not only a sense of belonging but also a platform for advocacy.

Postdocs are not a monophyletic clade. We are women, men, nonbinary, single, partnered, married; we are sexually, racially, and culturally diverse. Such diversity means that a one-size-fits-all approach to work-life balance is ineffective at best and harmful at worst. This is where mutual and intersectional advocacy becomes crucial. By recognizing our shared challenges and working together, we can push for changes that benefit us all.

Amy with a close group of women scientists. From left: Amy Strom, Claire Weaver, Jessica Zhao, Lindsay Becker, Anita Donlic, Yoonji Kim, Sofia Quinodoz, and Hailey Tanner

Postdocs and Unionization

In the summer of 2024, postdocs at my home institution, Princeton University, voted to become part of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union, an American union that has grown to represent more than just the auto industry. This victory required immense effort from many current postdocs, demonstrating the power of collective action.

Unionization will allow us to gather centralized information about our needs and bargain more effectively with the University for policy changes that will benefit us as a group and as individuals. Now just a few weeks later, a survey is collecting data on the most pressing issues we face, from pay equity to green card applications to family leave policies. I enthusiastically look forward to the additional support and benefits that Princeton will enact based on these data.

So, this National Postdoc Appreciation Week, let’s truly appreciate postdocs. Let’s listen to their unique stories, empathize with their individual challenges, and then make real, tangible, institutional changes to support them. Acknowledging the diversity of experiences among postdocs is the first step towards creating a more equitable academic environment where each individual can achieve their own balance.

About the Author and the Award

Amy R. Strom is a 2024 Blavatnik Regional Awards Finalist in Life Sciences

You can learn more about her and the Blavatnik Awards at Blavatnikawards.org

This piece published on the National Postdoctoral Association member blog is part of 2024 National Postdoc Appreciation Week. Current Academy Members can receive a 20% discount on a National Postdoctoral Association postdoc individual membership by emailing customerservice@nyas.org and requesting the NPA membership discount code

Nine Outstanding Postdoctoral Scholars for the 2024 Blavatnik Regional Awards for Young Scientists Announced

Cutting-edge research includes the study of the human ribosome to combat cancer, interfacing machines with the human brain to better understand neurological characteristics, and decoding the “dark matter” of viral genomes to mitigate viral threats.

New York, NY | September 17, 2024 – The Blavatnik Family Foundation and The New York Academy of Sciences today announced the three Laureates and six Finalists of the 2024 Blavatnik Regional Awards for Young Scientists. The Awards honor outstanding postdoctoral scientists from academic research institutions across New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

The Blavatnik Regional Awards jury, consisting of distinguished scientists and engineers, selected one Laureate in each category who will receive a $30,000 unrestricted prize and two Finalists in each category who will be awarded $10,000 each. The three Laureates and six Finalists were chosen out of 134 highly competitive nominations received from 24 academic institutions in the Tri-State area.

The announcement comes during the National Postdoctoral Association’s 15th annual celebration of 2024 National Postdoc Appreciation Week, which recognizes the significant contributions that postdoctoral scholars make to U.S. research and discovery.  

The 2024 Blavatnik Regional Awards Winners and Finalists will be honored at the 2024 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists Ceremony at the American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West and 79th Street, on October 1, 2024.

“It is a great pleasure to congratulate and honor our outstanding Laureates and Finalists,” said Len Blavatnik, Founder of Access Industries and the Blavatnik Family Foundation, and member of the President’s Council of The New York Academy of Sciences.  “Their ongoing research and discoveries will contribute to the global scientific community for years to come.”

“Postdocs help drive research and innovation forward and are catalysts for new scientific ideas and applied technologies,” said  Nicholas B. Dirks, President and CEO of The New York Academy of Sciences. “We are incredibly proud to announce these outstanding postdoctoral honorees of the 2024 Blavatnik Regional Awards, especially during National Postdoc Appreciation Week — a week dedicated to recognizing the important contributions that postdoctoral scholars make to American research and discovery.”

The 2024 Blavatnik Regional Awards Winners in the three award categories are: 

Chemical Sciences

Arnaud Vanden-Broeck, Ph.D., nominated by The Rockefeller University
Biochemist and structural biologist Arnaud Vanden-Broeck is leading groundbreaking work in uncovering the intricate processes behind human ribosome assembly, laying the foundation for treating cancers and diseases related to ribosome dysfunction.

Physical Sciences & Engineering

Raghavendra Pradyumna Pothukuchi, Ph.D., nominated by Yale University
The work of computer scientist Raghavendra Pradyumna Pothukuchi has led to unprecedented advances in creating a “brain-memex”, a system that interfaces computers with the human brain and could fundamentally shift our ability to understand neurological characteristics.

Life Sciences

Shira Weingarten-Gabbay, Ph.D., nominated by The Rockefeller University
Through her research, virologist Shira Weingarten-Gabbay has uncovered thousands of novel microproteins encoded in the “dark matter” of viral genomes, which has exposed previously unknown immune targets for vaccines.

The following postdoctoral researchers have been named Finalists in their respective categories:

Chemical Sciences

Juan D. Jiménez, Ph.D., nominated by Brookhaven National Laboratory
Chemical engineer Juan D. Jiménez is advancing sustainable industrial practices by developing novel catalytic materials that transform greenhouse gases like CO2 and methane into valuable chemical products.

Arthur Neuberger, Ph.D., nominated by Columbia University
As a Professor of Molecular Bioimaging at LMU Munich,  Arthur Neuberger conducts pioneering research on TRP channels, which has led to new ways of treating pain, cancer, and skin diseases, as well as deciphering the mechanism of how we sense temperature.

Physical Sciences & Engineering

Aavishkar Patel, Ph.D., nominated by the Flatiron Institute
Condensed matter theorist Aavishkar Patel is advancing a new theoretical understanding of “strange metals” and their tendencies towards superconductivity based on how microscopic irregularities in materials modify electron interactions.

Chiara Trovatello, Ph.D., nominated by Columbia University
Nanotechnology materials scientist Chiara Trovatello is developing new nano-engineered material platforms for optical computing, a critical step towards innovative imaging and information processing methods in quantum technologies.

Life Sciences

Nicole J. Lake, Ph.D., nominated by Yale University
Geneticist Nicole J. Lake is developing novel tools to study genetic variation in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to improve genetic diagnostics for patients with rare diseases.

Amy R. Strom, Ph.D., nominated by Princeton University
Molecular and cellular biologist Amy R. Storm is exploring the organization of biological “condensates” that physically compartmentalize target genes in the cell, influencing the expression of cancer-causing genes. 

About the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists

The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists, established by the Blavatnik Family Foundation in 2007 and independently administered by The New York Academy of Sciences, initially identified outstanding regional scientific talent among faculty and postdoctoral students in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. The Blavatnik National Awards, honoring faculty-rank scientists throughout the United States, were first awarded in 2014 and were expanded in 2017 to honor faculty-rank scientists in the United Kingdom and Israel. By the end of 2024, the Blavatnik Awards will have awarded prizes totaling $17.4 million and, to date, has honored over 570 scientists.

Blavatnik Awards scholars are driving economic growth by embarking on new scientific trajectories to pursue high-risk, high-reward scientific research. To date, Blavatnik Awards honorees have founded 74 companies. After recognition by the Blavatnik Awards, 30% of past honorees obtained a patent or filed a patent application, 75% have started a new research direction, and 11% have started a new collaboration with another Blavatnik Awards honoree. Visit blavatnikawards.org for further information. 

About the Blavatnik Family Foundation

The Blavatnik Family Foundation provides many of the world’s best researchers, scientists and future leaders with the support and funding needed to solve humankind’s greatest challenges. Led by Len Blavatnik, founder of Access Industries, the Foundation advances and promotes innovation, discovery and creativity to benefit the whole of society. Over the past decade, the Foundation has contributed over US$1 billion to more than 250 organizations. See more at www.blavatnikfoundation.org.

2024 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists Announced

A molecular biologist from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, a chemical engineer from UC Berkeley, and an earth scientist from Cornell University are this year’s Laureates.

New York, NY | September 12, 2024 – The Blavatnik Family Foundation and The New York Academy of Sciences named three women scientists as Laureates of the Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists, marking the second time since the launch of the awards ten years ago that all three Laureates are women. Each will receive $250,000, the largest unrestricted scientific prize offered to America’s most promising, faculty-level scientific researchers under 42. Three independent juries – one each for life sciences, chemical sciences, and physical sciences & engineering – composed of some of America’s most distinguished scientists selected the three winning Laureates. An additional 15 Finalists will each receive $15,000.

The 2024 Blavatnik National Awards received 331 nominations from 172 institutions in 43 U.S. states. Nominees must be faculty-level scientific researchers, 42 years of age or younger.

The Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists will celebrate the 2024 Laureates and Finalists and the 2024 Blavatnik Regional Awards Laureates and Finalists in a gala ceremony on October 1, 2024, at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

The 2024 winning Laureates are:

2024 Laureate in Life Sciences

Cigall Kadoch, Ph.D., Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School & Howard Hughes Medical Institute (Molecular & Cellular Biology)

Working to discover and characterize chromatin remodeling complexes, understanding how their disruption leads to human disease, and developing a new class of therapeutics

Healthy cells rely on the intricate collaboration of millions of biological molecules; even minor perturbations in these interactions can lead to diseases like cancer. In a series of groundbreaking studies, Cigall Kadoch has decoded the role of ATP-dependent chromatin remodelers—complex molecular machines made up of dozens of interacting proteins—in regulating DNA accessibility and gene expression. The Kadoch Lab also unraveled how disease-causing mutations in these complexes impact their structure and function in an expanding list of diseases that includes cancer, neurodevelopmental disorders, and immunodeficiencies.  Dr. Kadoch has built upon these discoveries to develop novel therapeutics, which are being tested in clinical trials and could revolutionize the treatment of diverse maladies.

2024 Laureate in Chemical Sciences

Markita del Carpio Landry, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley (Chemical Engineering)

Pioneering nanoscale chemical tools to address disparate challenges in human health and sustainability

The behavior of chemicals within and between cells of the body still holds many secrets to how life operates. By manipulating these basic chemical interactions of life, using very small particles to uncover new insights and tools for biology, Landry has applied new nanobiotechnology towards a wide range of tasks, from measuring the transfer of chemicals between synapses in the brain to bioengineering plant genetics. Landry’s strategies for applying nanobiotechnology tools are already paving the way for more resilient crops and new treatments for neurological disease ranging from neurodegeneration to autism spectrum disorders.

2024 Laureate in Physical Sciences & Engineering

Britney E. Schmidt, Ph.D., Cornell University (Physical Earth Sciences)

Advancing climate science and planetary habitability studies through groundbreaking research on ice-ocean interactions and innovative exploration of Earth’s polar regions and icy planetary bodies

In order to better predict the impact of climate change we must understand the interactions between the Earth’s oceans and ice. Britney E. Schmidt and her team designed, built, and deployed Icefin, a remotely operated vehicle that provides unprecedented insights into Antarctic ice shelf melting and ocean circulation. Schmidt’s work solves key problems in ice dynamics and interaction with the ocean and offers novel comprehensive views of sub-ice environments. Critically, this research shows how interactions between the ice, ocean, and seafloor control how glaciers respond to the warming ocean. Schmidt also applies Earth-based ice studies to solar system icy worlds to further our understanding of extraterrestrial environments. Schmidt’s contributions have earned widespread recognition, including inclusion in Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2023.

“On behalf of the Blavatnik Family Foundation, I congratulate this year’s outstanding Laureates and Finalists for their exceptional research.  They are among the preeminent leaders of the next generation of scientific innovation and discovery,” said Len Blavatnik, founder of Access Industries and the Blavatnik Family Foundation and a member of the President’s Council of The New York Academy of Sciences.   

Nicholas B. Dirks, president and CEO of The New York Academy of Sciences, said, “The New York Academy of Sciences has always championed women in science. We are thrilled to celebrate, for the second time in the United States, that all three of the scientists named the 2024 Blavatnik National Awards Laureates are women working in their respective fields to use science to benefit the public good.”

FINALISTS

The following scientists have been named Finalists in their respective categories:

Life Sciences

Wei Gao, Ph.D., California Institute of Technology (Biomedical Engineering & Biotechnology)
Developed advancements in wearable biomolecular sensors, allowing for continuous, real-time monitoring and early diagnosis of various health conditions without requiring invasive medical procedures.

Kaiyu Guan, Ph.D., University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (Agriculture & Animal Sciences)
Developed revolutionary technology to enhance our understanding of agricultural production systems and innovating transformative solutions to achieve co-sustainability of agricultural productivity and environmental quality.

Sergiu Paşca, M.D., Stanford University (Neuroscience & Developmental Biology)
Uncovered transformative and therapeutically relevant insights into the molecular and cellular steps underlying the assembly of the human brain and the mechanisms leading to neuropsychiatric disease.

Sohini Ramachandran, Ph.D., Brown University (Ecology & Evolutionary Biology)
Established quantitative methods that reveal the causes and consequences of human genetic variation while advancing the goal of personalized medicine for all.

Christoph A. Thaiss, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania (Neuroscience & Immunology)
Made significant advances in decoding the mechanisms by which the communication between environment, body, and brain mediates the impact of lifestyle factors on common human diseases.

Chemical Sciences

Joseph Cotruvo, Jr. Ph.D., The Pennsylvania State University (Biochemistry & Structural Biology)
Discovered and engineered biomolecules to sustainably harvest and purify rare metals, which are used in advanced technology, from electronic waste and the environment.

Garret Miyake, Ph.D., Colorado State University (Polymer Chemistry)
Made ground-breaking advances across polymer and organic chemistry, including inventing light-driven synthesis methods, novel plastics that are chemically recyclable, and light-reflecting coatings to reduce energy needs.

David Nagib, Ph.D., The Ohio State University (Organic Chemistry)
Stabilized traditionally unstable molecules, such as carbenes and free radicals, to discover faster, more effective, and previously unknown chemical mechanisms for synthesizing pharmaceuticals.

Yogesh Surendranath, Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Inorganic & Solid-State Chemistry)
Developed a molecular-level understanding of how charges arrange at electrified surfaces, like battery electrodes, and new chemical reactions to decarbonize fuel and chemical synthesis.

Wei Xiong, Ph.D., University of California San Diego (Physical Chemistry)
Established the experimental foundations of polariton chemistry, which describes hybrid, excited states of molecules, and engineered photonic cavities to provide better control over chemical reactions.

Physical Sciences & Engineering

Anima Anandkumar, Ph.D., California Institute of Technology (Computer Science)
Made ground-breaking advancements in AI to address practical scientific challenges, drastically accelerating simulation of complex phenomena like weather forecasting, scientific simulations, engineering design and scientific discovery.

Polina Anikeeva, Ph.D.,  Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Materials Science & Nanotechnology)
Integrated nanomaterials synthesis and electronic device design to develop neurotechnologies, artificial limbs, and soft robotics that advance our understanding and treatment of neurological disorders.

Ivan Z. Corwin, Ph.D., Columbia University (Applied Mathematics)
Expanded “Extreme Diffusion Theory” to model complex physical systems like the growth of tumors, the propagation of nerve signals, and the early spread of pandemics.

Alexey V. Gorshkov, Ph.D., National Institute of Standards and Technology & University of Maryland (Theoretical Physics)
Advanced the design of large interacting quantum systems through pioneering research at the intersection of quantum physics and information science with groundbreaking implications for quantum computers, sensors, and networks.

Maryam Shanechi, Ph.D., University of Southern California (Electrical Engineering)
Pioneered research at the intersection of engineering, AI, and neuroscience to develop advanced neurotechnologies that decode and regulate brain activity for treating brain disorders.

About the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists

The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists, established by the Blavatnik Family Foundation in 2007 and independently administered by The New York Academy of Sciences, initially identified outstanding regional scientific talent among faculty and postdoctoral students in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. The Blavatnik National Awards, honoring faculty-rank scientists throughout the United States, were first awarded in 2014 and were expanded in 2017 to honor faculty-rank scientists in the United Kingdom and Israel. By the end of 2024, the Blavatnik Awards will have awarded prizes totaling  $17.4 million and, to date, has honored over 470 scientists.

Blavatnik Awards scholars are driving economic growth by embarking on new scientific trajectories to pursue high-risk, high-reward scientific research. To date, Blavatnik Awards honorees have founded 72 companies. After recognition by the Blavatnik Awards, 30% of past honorees obtained a patent or filed a patent application, 75% have started a new research direction, and 11% have started a new collaboration with another Blavatnik Awards honoree.

Visit blavatnikawards.org for further information.

About the Blavatnik Family Foundation

The Blavatnik Family Foundation provides many of the world’s best researchers, scientists and future leaders with the support and funding needed to solve humankind’s greatest challenges. Led by Len Blavatnik, founder of Access Industries, the Foundation advances and promotes innovation, discovery and creativity to benefit the whole of society. Over the past decade, the Foundation has contributed over US$1 billion to more than 250 organizations. See more at www.blavatnikfoundation.org.

Media Contact

Kamala Murthy
kmurthy@nyas.org
212-298-3740

A Life in Defiance of Gravity

An author presents during an event at the Academy.

New book explores blackholes, massive gravity, how Einstein was ahead of his time, and learning from failure.

Published July 31, 2024

By Nick Fetty
Digital Content Manager

Photo by Nick Fetty/The New York Academy of Sciences

Theoretical physicist Claudia de Rham discussed her recently published book, The Beauty of Falling: A Life in Pursuit of Gravity, during the recent Authors at the Academy Series, moderated by Chief Scientific Officer Brooke Grindlinger, PhD, at The New York Academy of Sciences.

A Life in Defiance of Gravity

Professor de Rham opened the conversation by joking that she’s had to “defy gravity for most of her life in an effort to understand it.” She observed her body’s buoyancy during diving expeditions in the Indian Ocean. She gazed at Canadian waterfalls from overhead while piloting aircraft. She even endured the rigors of astronaut training. All of this, coupled with her study of theoretical physics, helped to inform her book.

“We have this playful relationship with gravity, I think from an early age you can see that. Everybody likes to defy gravity, I don’t think I’m the only one,” de Rham said with a smile.

She recalled an impactful instance from her childhood in Peru when she went on an exhibition into the Amazon jungle. Lying in her hammock, she peered up at a clear, star-filled night sky and was enveloped with feelings of serenity and blissfulness. She thought philosophically about how humankind is just one part of the greater universe. She theorized that gravity was the throughline that connected humankind to nature, to other humans, to everything in the universe.

“From that point on I realized I really want to explore the fundamental laws of nature much more,” she said.

De Rham’s life and career has taken her across the globe. In addition to Peru, her childhood included stints in Switzerland and Madagascar. She earned degrees in France, Switzerland, and England, before taking a postdoc in Canada. She’s also served as faculty at institutions in Switzerland and the United States.

The Dream of Becoming an Astronaut

Photo by Nick Fetty/The New York Academy of Sciences

De Rham currently serves as a professor of theoretical physics at Imperial College London, where her work falls at the intersection of gravity, cosmology, and particle physics. While she is now an accomplished physicist, her initial goal was to become an astronaut.

“I [knew] well the chances were very limited” she said. “I was very realistic but still, if you have a dream, you should just go for it and see what happens.”

She spent more than two decades in her pursuit, despite there being no formal school or training regimen. She said that since the selection process occurs every 15-20 years, most people only get one shot in their lifetime. “There were 10,000 people who had the same thought as me, so I wasn’t the only one.”

The process involved completing the necessary medical, flight and other training. Those who made the next stage, then underwent psychological, psychometric, intelligence, and a “battery” of other evaluations over a one-year period.

She was among roughly 200 applicants who made it to the second round of evaluations which focused more on team bonding and responding to stress. She was then one of 42, and one of the few women, to make it to the next stage, which involved “all possible medical tests that you can imagine” on “every single part of your body.”

One Step Backward, Two Steps Forward

Ultimately, it was a positive result on a newly developed tuberculosis (TB) screening that led to her being declared ineligible. The doctor explained to her that because of a past infection, the test showed that she had the TB antibodies.

“So that was that. That was the end of the dream,” she said. “The dream is still there to some extent but also it changed shape.”

Even though she was disqualified for something beyond her control, she expressed no regrets about the time and effort she spent training.

“It’s not so much about the outcome at the end of the day, it’s about the journey and the experiences you have along the way,” she said.

She emphasized that the element of “potential failure” was important in the process because that’s how people learn and make progress. She quickly found that this approach to dealing with failure was applicable to her work as a scientist.

“As a theoretical physicist, when I fail, it’s just an equation that’s wrong, [and] I start over again,” she said. “To me it’s also part of this discovery with gravity where we know [the theory] does fail, and that’s actually something very positive because it tells us there is something to explore there.”

Einstein Was Right (Sort Of)

In 1915, Einstein proposed his theory of general relativity and within a year he used this theory to predict the existence of gravitational waves, ripples within space and time. His contemporaries rejected this new theory, and even Einstein second guessed himself, wondering if gravitational waves could be detected. Roughly 20 years later, he almost published a paper with the definitive and provocative title of “Do Gravitational Waves Exist? Answer: No!”

Photo by Nick Fetty/The New York Academy of Sciences

“He wasn’t satisfied not only by the fact that you couldn’t observe them but simply he wanted to claim that they were not part of reality, an illusion, a mathematical artifact,” said de Rham.

This paper was one of the first of his to undergo the peer review process. This involves fellow scientists from similar fields auditing research papers for scientific accuracy and feasibility.

Einstein did not take kindly to the referee of his paper who questioned his definitive declaration about the nonexistence of gravitational waves, however it did prod him to keep exploring. He eventually reworked his paper with the more accurate, less provocative title of “On Gravitational Waves.”

“There’s a lesson in there for all of the scientists who complain about the peer review process,” Dr. Grindlinger, the moderator, chimed in. “Even Einstein benefitted from peer review.”

In 2016, scientists from the National Science Foundation’s Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory announced a significant breakthrough after directly detecting signals for gravitational waves in space – proving Einstein’s theory from a century prior.

The 2016 discovery involved earth-based instruments that were able to detect the gravitational waves of two merging blackholes in outer space. The ripples caused by this phenomenon traveled through space and time for millions of years until they were detected by the instruments on earth.

The Beginning of a New Era

Today’s consensus in theoretical physics suggests that Einstein’s theory of general relativity will eventually fail. One example being within Sagittarius A*, the supermassive blackhole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy.

“For the failure of Einstein’s theory of general relativity, we don’t need to have any observations to know directly where it would fail,” said de Rham. “And yet we know that we need to have a new theory that goes beyond Einstein’s theory of relativity to overcome it.”

To fill the gaps in the research, de Rham has developed her own theory of “Massive Gravity.” Though, much like Einstein, she at times second guesses her own idea.

Photo by Nick Fetty/The New York Academy of Sciences

“I’m not convinced that it’s a reality, but I am convinced that we should explore it,” said de Rham. “Because that’s how we learn.”

In 2011, de Rham, Gregory Gabadadze and Andrew Tolley developed a new, groundbreaking mathematical framework for the theory of massive gravity. Her work has profound implications for the area of research now dubbed “beyond Einstein gravity”, which includes exploring new types of particles in the universe and connecting the theories of gravity with current and next-generation astrophysics experiments.

“If gravity had a very small mass, then the messenger for gravity wouldn’t have as big of a reach anymore. That’s the idea behind the theory of massive gravity. You wouldn’t need to account for all the vacuum energy present in the whole of the universe to explain the accelerated expansion. You only account for a fraction of it and it leads to a smaller rate of acceleration of the universe,” said de Rham, succinctly summarizing her complex theory.

Award-Winning Research

In recognition of her breakthrough research, de Rham was named the 2020 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the United Kingdom Laureate in the Physical Sciences & Engineering category. The support from the award enabled her to continue conducting impactful research in this field, particularly new and innovative ideas that may not be supported by other funding agencies. The award is free of restrictions and is the largest of its kind for early career researchers.

“Science is always much more fun and creative than science fiction,” de Rham said in closing.

Check out the other events from our 2024 Authors at the Academy Series

Full video of these events is available, please visit nyas.org/ondemand

Q&A with Academy Board Member Peter Thorén

A man in a suit poses for the camera.

Published April 3, 2024

Peter Thorén is Executive Vice President of Access Industries and a member of the Board of Governors for The New York Academy of Sciences. With an extensive background in law and business, he brings a valuable perspective to the Board. We interviewed him to learn more about his background, what he’s learned from working with scientists, and why he chose to get involved with the Academy.

*some quotes have been edited for length and clarity

What does being a member of the Board of the Academy mean to you?

First and foremost, I’m extremely proud to be a member of the Board for The New York Academy of Sciences. I am not a scientist by training, but I have great respect and admiration for what talented scientists can do. The brilliance of science is producing solutions to problems and making the world better. Being a Board member for the Academy enables me to assist in that process in any way I can. This is both a privilege and an honor, and I appreciate the opportunity.

How did you first become interested in the Academy’s work?

I first became involved around 2004, when the Academy was still located up on East 63rd Street, on the Upper East Side, and Ellis Rubinstein was the President. At that time, the Academy was going through a bit of a financial issue and was considering selling their building.

Access Industries ended up buying the Academy building and, through the process of negotiating the deal, we got to know Ellis and the Academy well. Ellis, in turn, got to know Len Blavatnik, the Founder of Access Industries. In 2005, Ellis, Len, and I attended the Nobel Prize Ceremony in Stockholm with our wives. From there, the relationship with the Academy and the growth of the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists took off. So that’s the genesis of my relationship with the Academy and I have been on the Board ever since. I marvel at the Academy’s growth and expansion over that time.

How does your personal and professional background inform your commitment to the Academy?

I’m a lawyer and a businessman by training and it’s what I’ve done for the last 45 years. Over the years, I’ve learned that the more interested you are in the world around you, the more creative you become, the more innovative you are in your thought process and the more successful you are in your career and life in general. This process applies to the way the Academy, and the many talented individuals we associate with at the Academy, think. It defines how they look at problems and identify solutions to seemingly insurmountable issues. This creative approach benefits everyone but particularly those of us who are on the periphery of science and who benefit from what is being done within the Academy and other scientific institutions.

Which is the one Academy program or initiative that excites you the most. And why?

Well, there are many wonderful initiatives and programs at the Academy. But clearly, the one nearest to my heart, given the fact that I was there from the beginning in 2007 and have watched it grow over the years, is the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists. We started with the regional awards for postdocs in the tri-state area, then that grew into the national award for faculty-ranked scientists and engineers throughout the entire United States. Then, in 2017, we expanded the awards further to honor faculty-ranked researchers in Israel and the United Kingdom.

By the end of 2024, we’ll have recognized 470 young scientists from more than 35 different scientific and engineering disciplines and have provided over $17 million in unrestricted awards. Being able to support young scientists early in their career, and to give them the confidence, the recognition, and an extra push forward to do even greater things, is wonderful. Of all the different things I do on a philanthropic side as head of the Blavatnik Family Foundation, being part of the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists is the most fun, the most interesting, and the most rewarding. I’m proud and honored to work alongside Len Blavatnik and the talented and enthusiastic people at the Academy who make this possible.

“I have great respect and admiration for what talented scientists can do. The brilliance of science is producing solutions to problems and making the world better. Being a Board member for the Academy enables me to assist in that process in any way I can.”

-Peter Thorén
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, ACCESS INDUSTRIES
BOARD MEMBER, THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Prestigious Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in Israel Announces 2024 Laureates

לקריאת ההודעה בעברית לחצו כאן

Three scientists from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel will each be awarded US$100,000 for their groundbreaking scientific research

Jerusalem | March 26, 2024 – The Blavatnik Family Foundation, the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and The New York Academy of Sciences announced today the Laureates of the 2024 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in Israel. This year’s Laureates, who will each receive US$100,000, are: 

Schraga Schwartz, PhD (Life Sciences) – Weizmann Institute of Science – Recognized for developing groundbreaking analytical methods to locate and quantify chemical changes in RNA. Professor Schwartz’s breakthroughs in understanding RNA modifications hold promise for treating genetic diseases and expanding the role of RNA editing beyond vaccine development. 

Moran Shalev-Benami, PhD (Chemical Sciences) – Weizmann Institute of Science – Recognized for the discovery of key sensing and signaling mechanisms in the brain that can be directly translated to precision medicine. Dr. Shalev-Benami’s work is informing the development of new therapeutics to treat appetite disorders and is exploring how light could be used to modify brain activity in living organisms. 

Thomas Vidick, PhD (Physical Sciences & Engineering) – Weizmann Institute of Science – Recognized for pioneering research exploring how quantum principles can be used to create more powerful computers. Professor Vidick’s research represents a significant milestone in our quest to understand the power and limitations of quantum computing and will advance the security of digital communications. 

The Blavatnik Awards recognize outstanding, innovative scientists at the early stages of their careers for both their extraordinary achievements and their promise for future discoveries. The prizes are awarded to researchers aged 42 and younger for groundbreaking work in the disciplines of Life Sciences, Chemical Sciences, and Physical Sciences & Engineering. The Blavatnik Awards in Israel sit alongside their international counterparts, the Blavatnik National Awards and Blavatnik Regional Awards in the United States and the Blavatnik Awards in the United Kingdom.  

The 2024 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in Israel will be conferred at a ceremony held at the Peres Center for Peace & Innovation in Tel Aviv-Jaffa in June 2024.  

The 2024 Laureates join young scientists from across Israel who have been honored by the Blavatnik Awards since they were launched in 2017. In addition, the Laureates become part of the international Blavatnik Science Scholars community, whose recipients will have been awarded prizes totaling US$17.2 million by the close of 2024.  

Blavatnik Awards scholars are driving economic growth by embarking on new scientific trajectories to pursue high-risk, high-reward scientific research. To date, Blavatnik Awards honorees have founded 72 companies, many of which are now publicly traded on major global stock exchanges including the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Nasdaq Stock Market. After recognition by the Blavatnik Awards, 30% of past honorees have obtained a patent or filed a patent application, 75% have started a new research direction, and 11% have started a new collaboration with another Blavatnik Awards honoree. 

“Israel has always been a powerhouse of scientific breakthroughs and technological innovation,” said Len Blavatnik, Founder of Access Industries and Head of the Blavatnik Family Foundation. “These exceptional scientists demonstrate the enormous impact that Israeli innovation, creativity and discovery have on shaping the future and are outstanding examples of the Israeli spirit and resilience. We are proud to honor them and look forward to their future work.” 

Professor Nicholas B. Dirks, President and CEO of The New York Academy of Sciences, said, “We congratulate the Weizmann Institute of Science, whose faculty received all three Blavatnik Awards this year. I’m sure that Professor Chaim Weizmann, who not only founded the Weizmann Institute but was the first president of Israel and a scientist himself, would be very proud. We look forward to following the future transformative scientific work of this year’s Laureates.” 

Professor David Harel, President of The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, said, “Today we recognize the exceptional achievements of the very best of young Israeli scientists. This is doubly important at the present time, with Israel going through one of its worst periods, exacerbated by unprecedented obstacles for Israel’s science. We are especially grateful to the Blavatnik Family Foundation and The New York Academy of Sciences for our continued partnership in this wonderful endeavor. … Israel’s positioning at the forefront of global science, merit of scholarship and economic stability are reliant upon the accomplishments and excellence of its scientists. We are proud to honor this year’s Blavatnik Awards Laureates, and we celebrate their innovative breakthroughs with confidence in the far-reaching, positive impact of their achievements on society at large.” 

During the nomination period for the 2024 Blavatnik Awards, 42 nominations were received from eight universities across Israel. Members of the Awards’ Scientific Advisory Council – which includes Nobel Laureates Professors Aaron Ciechanover, David Gross and Sir Richard Roberts, along with former Chairman of the Israel Space Agency, Professor Isaac Ben-Israel – were also invited to submit nominations. Three distinguished juries, composed of leading scientists representing the three disciplinary categories and led by Israel Academy members, selected the 2024 Laureates.

About the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists   

The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists, established by the Blavatnik Family Foundation in 2007 and independently administered by The New York Academy of Sciences, began by identifying outstanding scientific talent in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. In 2014, the Blavatnik National Awards were created to recognize faculty-rank scientists throughout the United States. In 2017, the Awards were further expanded to honor faculty-rank scientists in the UK and Israel. For updates about the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists, please visit www.blavatnikawards.org or follow us on X and Facebook @BlavatnikAwards.

About the Blavatnik Family Foundation   

The Blavatnik Family Foundation provides many of the world’s best researchers, scientists and future leaders with the support and funding needed to solve humankind’s greatest challenges. Led by Len Blavatnik, founder of Access Industries, the Foundation advances and promotes innovation, discovery and creativity to benefit the whole of society. Over the past decade, the Foundation has contributed over US$1 billion to more than 250 organizations. See more at www.blavatnikfoundation.org.

About The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities 

The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities is Israel’s flagship scientific institution. It was established by law in 1961 and acts as a national focal point for Israeli scholarship in all branches of the sciences, social sciences and humanities. The Academy’s membership comprises 147 of Israel’s most distinguished scientists and scholars in its two sections – the Sciences Section and the Humanities Section. It is tasked with promoting Israeli scientific excellence, advising the government on scientific matters of national interest, publishing scholarly research of lasting merit and maintaining active contact with the broader international scientific and scholarly community. For more information about The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, please visit www.academy.ac.il. 

For further information, please contact: 
Liel Edry:  liel@kamir-e.com   +972-50-8655-305 

For US Inquiries, please contact: 
Kamala Murthy, The New York Academy of Sciences, Kmurthy@nyas.org +1-212-298-3740 

Blavatnik Honoree Showcase

Meet the Honorees

The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists were created in 2007 to identify and honor exceptional young scientists and engineers 42 years of age and younger. Here, take a look behind the curtain at some Blavatnik laureates and finalists to learn more about their exciting research and why it’s important for the world.

Do you want to hear more from the honorees? Register for free to watch the most recent public symposium.

Watch Now

From the Academy Blog

Our Blavatnik Award honorees are making a huge impact on the world of science — learn what their research means for the future.

Prestigious Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK to bestow £480,000 to nine scientists across the UK

Nine outstanding researchers were recipients of the 2024 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK, with the funds totaling £480,000.

  • The 2024 Awards recognise scientific advances driven by researchers who have:
    • Used new research in RNA structure to improve crop resilience
    • Detected water and other life-signalling molecules from planets beyond the solar system
    • Designed new enzymes never before seen in nature or a lab
    • Encoded photons with information in new ways that enable the possibility for high-capacity quantum communication networks for the first time
  • Heriot-Watt University in Scotland and the John Innes Centre in Norwich, England, are honoured for the first time.
  • Five of the nine honourees come from ethnic minority groups of the UK academic community.

London | 17 January 2024 – Today, the Blavatnik Family Foundation and The New York Academy of Sciences have announced the nine recipients of the 2024 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK. The grants, totaling £480,000, recognize research that is transforming medicine, technology, and our understanding of the world across three categories: Chemical Sciences, Physical Sciences & Engineering, and Life Sciences.

This year’s Laureates, selected by an independent jury of expert scientists across the UK, will each receive £100,000 in unrestricted funds:

Green

Professor Anthony P. Green, an organic chemist from The University of Manchester, has been named the Chemical Sciences Laureate for his discoveries in designing and engineering new enzymes, with valuable catalytic functions previously unknown in nature that address societal needs. Recent examples include the development of biocatalysts to produce COVID-19 therapies, to break down plastics, and to use visible light to drive chemical reactions.

Nair

Professor Rahul R. Nair, a materials physicist at The University of Manchester, was named Laureate in Physical Sciences & Engineering for developing novel membranes based on two-dimensional (2D) materials that will enable energy-efficient separation and filtration technologies. Using graphene and other 2D materials, his research aims to study the transport of water, organic molecules, and ions at the nanoscale, exploring its potential applications to address societal challenges, including water filtration and other separation technologies.

McGranahan

Dr. Nicholas McGranahan, a computational biologist from University College London (UCL), was named the Life Sciences Laureate. His research explores how to harness evolutionary principles to understand cancers and why tumours are so difficult to treat. His work also aims to understand why and how tumours spread to other parts of the body and to explore the interaction between cancer and the immune system. His work is intended to inform clinical decision-making, identify determinants of treatment resistance, and promote the development of personalized immunotherapies.

Now in its seventh year, the Awards are the largest unrestricted prizes available to UK scientists aged 42 or younger, donating £3.3 million to scientists across UK academia since their inception. Internationally recognised by the scientific community, the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists are instrumental in expanding the engagement and recognition of young scientists and provide the support and encouragement needed to drive scientific innovation for the next generation.

The jury also selected two Finalists from each category, who will each receive £30,000:

  • Fernanda Duarte, PhD, from the University of Oxford (Chemical Sciences)
  • Samuel D. Stranks, DPhil, from the University of Cambridge (Chemical Sciences)
  • Jayne Birkby, PhD, from the University of Oxford (Physical Sciences & Engineering)
  • Mehul Malik, PhD, from Heriot-Watt University (Physical Sciences & Engineering)
  • Tanmay Bharat, PhD, from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (Life Sciences)
  • Yiliang Ding, PhD, from the John Innes Centre (Life Sciences)

This is the first year that Heriot-Watt University and the John Innes Centre were recognised by the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK. The 2024 Awards received 84 nominations from 40 academic and research institutions.

“Providing recognition and funding early in a scientist’s career can make the difference between discoveries that remain in the lab and those that make transformative scientific breakthroughs,” said Sir Leonard Blavatnik, Founder and Chairman of Access Industries and Head of the Blavatnik Family Foundation. “We are proud that the Awards have promoted both UK science and the careers of many brilliant young scientists and we look forward to their additional discoveries in the years ahead.”

Professor Nicholas B. Dirks, President and CEO of The New York Academy of Sciences and Chair of the Awards’ Scientific Advisory Council, noted, “From studying cancer to identifying water in far-off planets, to laying the groundwork for futuristic quantum communications systems, to making enzymes never seen before in a lab or in nature, this year’s Laureates and Finalists are pushing the boundaries of science and working to make the world a better place. Thank you to this year’s jury for sharing their time and expertise in selecting these daring and bold scientists as the winning Laureates and Finalists of the 2024 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK.”

The Blavatnik Awards in the UK sit alongside their global counterparts, the Blavatnik National Awards and the Blavatnik Regional Awards in the United States, and the Blavatnik Awards in Israel, all of which honour and support exceptional early-career scientists. By the close of 2024, the Blavatnik Awards will have awarded prizes totalling US$17.2 million. About 60% of all recipients are immigrants to the country in which they were recognised; honourees hail from 54 countries across six continents, reflecting the Blavatnik Family Foundation’s recognition that groundbreaking science is a global enterprise.

Blavatnik Awards scholars are driving economic growth by embarking on new scientific trajectories to pursue high-risk, high-reward scientific research. To date, Blavatnik Awards honourees have founded 72 companies. After recognition by the Blavatnik Awards, 30% of past honourees obtained a patent or filed a patent application, 75% have started a new research direction, and 11% have started a new collaboration with another Blavatnik Awards honouree.

The 2024 Blavatnik Awards in the UK Laureates and Finalists will be honoured at a black-tie gala dinner and award ceremony at Banqueting House in Whitehall, London, on 27 February 2024; Professor Irene Tracey, vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford, will serve as ceremony presenter. The following day, on 28 February 2024 from 11:00 to 17:00 GMT, the honourees will present their research with a series of short, interactive lectures at a free public symposium at the RSA House located at 8 John Adam St., London. To attend the symposium, click HERE to register.

Notes to Editors

To follow the progress of the Blavatnik Awards, please visit the Awards’ website (www.blavatnikawards.org) or follow us on Facebook and X (@BlavatnikAwards).

For media requests, please contact: 

For further details about the 2024 Blavatnik Awards in the UK Laureates and Finalists, the Blavatnik Family Foundation, and the New York Academy of Sciences, please see below.

About the Laureates

Chemical Sciences

Anthony P. Green, PhD, The University of Manchester – Designing and engineering new enzymes with functions beyond those found in nature to make the materials that society needs

As Professor of Organic and Biological Chemistry at The University of Manchester, Professor Anthony P. Green studies and designs enzymes – nature’s catalysts – that speed up almost all of the biochemical processes needed for life. He was recognised for the targeted engineering of enzymes to catalyse new chemical reactions not possible using conventional techniques. Building from fundamentals of synthetic chemistry, Professor Green designs and evolves bespoke enzymes to perform valuable chemical reactions, unlocking synthetic pathways never seen before in chemistry labs or in nature. His research allows the chemical industry to develop more efficient and environmentally benign ways to solve global challenges, from making new pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, or biofuels to breaking down environmental pollutants such as plastics.

Physical Sciences & Engineering

Rahul R. Nair, PhD, The University of Manchester – Studying two-dimensional materials to explore their potential applications in water filtration and other separation technologies

As Professor of Materials Physics and Carlsberg/Royal Academy of Engineering Research Chair at The University of Manchester, Professor Rahul R. Nair conducts research in two-dimensional (2D) material-based membranes, using the technology to solve real-world global challenges. Professor Nair’s work on graphene oxide and other 2D material membranes highlights their potential in various real-world applications: water filtration and seawater desalination, organic solvent nanofiltration, and intelligent membranes for filtration and biomedical uses. Additionally, his research has provided valuable insights into the movement of water and other molecules in nanocapillaries, as those movements differ from their behaviour on the macro scale.

Life Sciences

Nicholas McGranahan, PhD, University College London (UCL) – Harnessing evolutionary principles to understand cancers, tumour development, and metastasis, laying the foundation for developing new treatment approaches

Cancer remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide; for each patient, cancer manifests differently, but it is always an uncertain diagnosis. Computational biologist and Principal Research Fellow at University College London (UCL), Dr. Nicholas McGranahan, was recognised for developing computational analyses to understand how tumours have developed and how they might be treated. Dr. McGranahan’s work has laid a foundation for exploring tumour development as an evolutionary process. He has developed tools to permit researchers to understand the genetic faults that have accumulated during a tumour’s development and to evaluate how these can be harnessed to predict the tumour’s future trajectory. His tools also allow researchers to determine how we might design more effective cancer treatments, which are specific to each individual tumour.

About the Finalists

Chemical Sciences

Fernanda Duarte, PhD, University of Oxford – Developing cutting-edge computational tools to simulate chemical reactions and design new molecules for future therapeutics

Professor Fernanda Duarte, Associate Professor of Computational Organic Chemistry at the University of Oxford, is developing groundbreaking computational tools to simulate chemical reactions, optimise chemical synthesis, and guide the design of new molecules. Professor Duarte integrates molecular modelling with advances in computer science to address pressing challenges in computational chemistry. A key application of Professor Duarte’s work is the identification of new therapeutic agents to address global health challenges. The traditional drug discovery process is time consuming and costly, but through her new techniques, Professor Duarte can screen and analyse large chemical libraries quickly, identifying potential drug candidates before the rigors of experimental testing.

Samuel D. Stranks, DPhil, University of Cambridge  – Improving the efficiency of next-generation solar cells through studying the behaviour and stability of their key component, perovskite materials

Traditional silicon-based solar cell technology has reached an efficiency plateau. Next-generation solar cells based on perovskite materials hold extraordinary potential to improve solar panel efficiency. Despite their high efficiency, perovskite solar cells have several technical challenges to address before they can be widely deployed commercially. These include pushing performances to their potential efficiency limits and stopping performance degradation over long-term operation. Professor Samuel D. Stranks, Professor of Optoelectronics at the University of Cambridge, has developed novel techniques to study the optical and electronic properties of novel perovskite semiconductors to inform the design of low-cost, high-performance and stable technologies to drive society’s next-generation energy transition.

Physical Sciences & Engineering

Jayne Birkby, PhD, University of Oxford – Detecting water in the atmosphere of an exoplanet with robust evidence, for the first time

For centuries, the question of life beyond Earth has captivated human imagination. Today, thanks to the tireless efforts of astrophysicists like Professor Jayne Birkby, Associate Professor of Exoplanetary Science and Tutorial Fellow in Physics at Brasenose College at the University of Oxford, this inquiry is no longer a matter of speculation. Professor Birkby was recognised for detecting water in the atmosphere of an exoplanet – a planet that is beyond the solar system – with robust evidence, for the first time, and continuously advancing cutting-edge spectroscopy and imaging techniques for exoplanet research. Professor Birkby’s work accelerates the quest to identify life-signalling molecules like oxygen, methane, water, and carbon dioxide on nearby exoplanets.

Mehul Malik, PhD, Heriot-Watt University – Encoding information onto photons in new ways that create a pathway towards a future quantum internet

While still in its infancy, quantum communication technology holds the promise of unprecedented levels of information security, positioning itself as the indispensable backbone for the future functioning of human society. Quantum physicist and Professor of Physics, Professor Mehul Malik, is advancing quantum communications at Heriot-Watt University through revolutionary techniques that harness high-dimensional entanglement, a complex quantum physics phenomenon. Professor Malik’s innovations enable the normally fragile entanglement to survive long distances and harsh conditions, laying the foundation for noise-robust and high-capacity quantum networks that securely transmit large amounts of information encoded on individual photons.

Life Sciences

Yiliang Ding, PhD, John Innes Centre – Unveiling the functional roles of RNA structure in living cells as the key to RNA structure-based therapeutics and crop improvement

RNA biologist Dr. Yiliang Ding serves as Group Leader at the John Innes Centre, where she is developing innovative methods for profiling RNA structures in living cells. RNA has long been known as a crucial part of the central dogma of cellular biology, where DNA is transcribed into RNA and then translated into protein. However, less is known about the complex structures into which RNA can be formed and the importance of these structures in regulating diverse biological processes. Dr. Ding’s research is delivering new insights into the functional roles of RNA structures in gene regulation. This pioneering research provides a springboard for the global use of RNA structure-guided molecular designs in therapeutics and crop improvement.

Tanmay Bharat, PhD, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology – Tackling human health by understanding the mechanisms of biofilm and microbiome formation through new cutting-edge electron cryotomography (cryo-ET) techniques

Microorganisms such as bacteria and archaea are commonly found in complex multicellular communities; however, relatively little is understood about how these multicellular communities form. Dr. Tanmay Bharat, structural microbiologist and Programme Leader in the Structural Studies Division at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, has developed and applied cutting-edge cryo-ET techniques to create atomic-level pictures of cell surface molecules on microorganisms, revealing how these molecules mediate the formation of multicellular communities. Dr. Bharat’s work has important biomedical implications, since most pathogenic bacteria infect humans by forming multicellular, antibiotic-resistant, biofilm communities. This work is also vital for the fundamental understanding of the dynamics of cell-to-cell interactions that led to the historical evolution of multicellular life on earth.

About the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists

The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists, established by the Blavatnik Family Foundation in 2007 and independently administered by The New York Academy of Sciences, began by identifying outstanding scientific talent in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. In 2014, the Blavatnik National Awards were created to recognise faculty-rank scientists throughout the United States. In 2017, the Awards were further expanded to honour faculty-rank scientists in the UK and Israel. For updates about the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists, please visit www.blavatnikawards.org or follow us on X and Facebook @BlavatnikAwards.

About the Blavatnik Family Foundation

The Blavatnik Family Foundation provides many of the world’s best researchers, scientists, and future leaders with the support and funding needed to solve humankind’s greatest challenges. Led by Sir Leonard Blavatnik, founder and chairman of Access Industries, the Foundation advances and promotes innovation, discovery, and creativity to benefit the whole of society. Over the past decade, the Foundation has contributed more than US$1 billion to more than 250 organisations. See more at www.blavatnikfoundation.org.

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