Society announces medal and award winners in celebration of life-changing research and innovation from Wales

Welsh imagination, invention and creativity are evident in the six individuals and teams who have won the Learned Society of Wales’ new medals and awards.

The winners of the Learned Society of Wales’ new medals and awards display an inspiring range of research and innovative practice, all of which brings solutions for the future health, wellbeing and prosperity of Wales and its communities.

The winners come from across disciplines and are at all stages of their careers. They will receive their awards at an event held at the Senedd on Thursday 5 November, at what will be a celebration of the strength of research and innovation from and about Wales.

This year’s winners are:

• Professor Paul Meredith FLSW: Lady Rhondda Award for Outstanding Achievement
  Centre for Integrative Semiconductor Materials, Swansea University

Paul is a major landmark in the country’s research environment, with a fundamental role in our semiconductor industry. His research focuses on the pivotal role semiconductors play in so much modern life, from your mobile phone screen to LED lighting to solar panels, as well as the need to decarbonise the production processes that produce them. Read more about Paul Meredith.

• CAER Heritage: Professor Millicent Mackenzie Award for the Advancement of EDI in Academic or Professional Life
  Action in Caerau and Ely | Cardiff University

CAER Heritage has a proud record of academic and societal impact, bringing together Cardiff University researchers, schools, colleges and the local community to co-produce research and run activities centred around heritage sites in west Cardiff. In the process, it changes lives, not least by challenging negative perceptions about this part of the city while raising aspiration at the same time. Read more about CAER Heritage.

• Professor Kirsti Bohata FLSW: Gwen John Medal for Humanities and Arts
  Swansea University

Kirsti is a passionate advocate for the arts and humanities, promoting their use on projects ranging from planetary health to British Sign Language to supporting women and girls who are survivors of violence. This advocacy is built upon her research into Welsh writing in English, with an emphasis on gender, language, ethnicity, landscape and place. Read more about Kirsti Bohata.

• Professor Valentina Escott-Price: Alfred Russel Wallace Medal for Biosciences and Medicine
  UK Dementia Research Institute, School of Medicine, Cardiff University 

Valentina has an international reputation for the use of computation and machine-learning approaches in the understanding of dementia, helping to identify modifiable risk factors for the condition. She has helped the NHS develop its plans for the impact of disease-modifying Alzheimer’s treatments, and has played an advisory role for the UK Government’s dementia strategy. Read more about Valentina Escott-Price.

• Dr Hana D’Souza: Dillwyn Medal for Social Sciences
  School of Psychology, Cardiff University

Hana is a developmental psychologist who uses her research to challenge negative accounts of neurodevelopmental conditions. She has developed tools to gather and process data about the everyday lived experience of young children with and without Down syndrome. Her work has had important impacts on policy work around the rights of children and young people. Read more about Hana D’Souza.

• Dr David Williams: Dillwyn Medal for Engineering, Physical Sciences and Maths
  Musculoskeletal Biomechanics Research Facility, School of Engineering, Cardiff University

David is a medical engineer who brings his engineering expertise to the worlds of medical imaging and clinical biomechanics, delivering advances in the use of advanced techniques such as MRI and biplane X-ray. These tools have numerous benefits for orthopaedics, rehabilitation, disease management and surgical planning, with the potential to transform care for people suffering from ankle, knee, shoulder or back problems. Read more about David Williams.

Wales must do more to celebrate and promote the successes of its researchers

This is the first year the Society will present its relaunched medals and awards, which are named after some of Wales’s most important innovators, all of them pioneers in their fields, who often succeeded against the odds. These six medals and awards are part of a new suite of twelve which we will present over a rolling two-year period, these first ones this year (and subsequently in 2028), with the next six awarded first in 2027 (and every other year thereafter).

The aim of the medals and awards is to share as widely as possible the stories of Wales’s researchers and their achievements, whatever field they work in, and whether they come from industry, academia, the third sector or beyond. There is extraordinary, life-changing work being done in Wales. The medals and awards offer the chance to celebrate that.

The winners of the medals and awards are researchers from across disciplines and at all stages of their careers.