The School of Life Sciences has opened nominations for its annual public engagement award, named after Sir Harry Kroto FRS.

The Kroto award recognises high quality examples of public engagement with research and is open to all staff within Life Sciences. The panel will review evidence of engagement over the past 18 months. The selected nominee will be awarded a £1000 prize to support their public engagement work.

External Engagement Manager, Dr Katy Petherick said: “In a year of immense challenge globally, we have all seen the importance of effective science communication. With most of our usual engagement activities being put on hold, our scientists have challenged themselves to reach the public in different ways, and been really successful in doing so. I look forward to reading the stories of those nominated!”

The award is named after Sir Harry Kroto FRS, a former University of Sussex Professor who won the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Robert Curl and Richard Smalley for their discovery of fullerenes, a form of carbon including “buckyballs”.

During his lifetime, Harry was a keen advocate for outreach, setting up the educational charity Vegas Science Trust, as well as taking part in numerous public engagements and encouraging researchers in his lab to do the same.

Nominations for the Kroto award are now open. Staff can by nominated by anyone (including themselves) in the School until Friday 4 December. The panel will judge the submissions alone, so sufficient evidence should be provided. The award will be presented at the School of Life Sciences’ annual research symposium on Thursday 7 January 2021.

Short-listed candidates will be celebrated within the School and online, with the winner giving a talk at the symposium before receiving their award.

Nominations can be submitted using the online form.

Read this news item for information on the recipients of last year’s prize.

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