Dr Priyanka Ganguly wins Kathleen Lonsdale RIA Chemistry Prize 2022

Dr Priyanka Ganguly, a recent PhD graduate of the Institute of Technology Sligo, has been awarded the 2022 Kathleen Lonsdale RIA Chemistry Prize for the best chemistry PhD thesis in Ireland. This prestigious prize is named in honour of the famous Irish x-ray crystallographer Kathleen Lonsdale and announced today to mark her birthday.

Dr Priyanka Ganguly’s winning PhD research was work towards solving two fundamental challenges of the 21st century: sustainable energy production and environmental remediation of pharmaceutical effluents and antimicrobial disinfection. Her experimental work included the synthesis of novel nanomaterials and exploring their use as photocatalysts for hydrogen generation, degradation reactions and antimicrobial disinfection under visible light.

Dr Ganguly is currently working as a Marie Curie Early-Stage Researcher at the University of Glasgow. She described her reaction to the news that she had been selected for the Kathleen Lonsdale RIA Chemistry Prize 2022:

"I am extremely delighted to be the awardee from such a prestigious institution. Being recognised with such awards helps you to gain confidence to do better in upcoming years. Moreover, challenging situations of pandemics have made me realise the importance of science we do and the progress that we make each day for a better future. It is an extremely humbling experience to be recognised by such a prestigious institution as the Royal Irish Academy, as it recognises all the hard work being done to date."

Professor Christine O’Connor, TU Dublin, chair of the assessment panel for the prize, commended the quality of this year’s competition entries:

“This years' Kathleen Lonsdale Prize applicants representing Universities/ Institutes across Ireland have been of an extremely high standard. To have such a high calibre of applicants following what has been a very disruptive time in their postgraduate research due to the pandemic, displays resilience and determination of both the Researchers and their Supervisors. The applicants demonstrated how their research aims to address global challenges and dissemination of the outputs in such high impact journals and scientific fora demonstrates Ireland as being world class in Chemical Sciences research.”  

Dr Ganguly will receive the winner’s certificate and the €2,000 prize at a special ceremony of the Royal Irish Academy later this year. She will also be nominated by the Royal Irish Academy to represent Ireland in the 2022 IUPAC-Solvay International Award for Young Chemists. The Kathleen Lonsdale RIA Chemistry Prize is kindly supported by Henkel.