Edinburgh chemist wins Parliament prize
A University scientist has won a prize in recognition of the excellence of his chemistry research.
Dr James Cooper, a postdoctoral research associate in the School of Chemistry, won a Silver medal and a £2,000 prize at the STEM for BRITAIN competition.
Science contest
The poster competition, which is run by the Parliamentary & Scientific Committee, took place in the House of Commons.
It aims to help politicians understand more about the UK’s thriving science and engineering base, and rewards some of the strongest scientific and engineering research currently being undertaken.
Chemistry research
Dr Cooper presented his research to dozens of politicians and a panel of expert judges as part of the competition, which involved more than 200 early stage or early career researchers.
Each presenter was entered into either the engineering, the biological and biomedical sciences, the physical sciences (chemistry), the physical sciences (physics), or the mathematics session, depending on the researcher’s specialism.
James’s research, which focuses on molecular cages, was judged against 29 other shortlisted researchers’ work in the physical sciences (chemistry) session and came out as one of the three winners.
It really means a lot to win. It gives me an extra level of confidence and pride that at some point, the work that I’ve presented has been considered to be intelligible to the layperson and that I can communicate it in a way that people think is worthy of winning, which of course I’m very proud to do.