This prestigious award, sponsored by Microsoft Research*, is designed to recognise and reward scientists working in Europe who have made a major contribution to the advancement of science through the use of computational methods.
The award comprises a trophy and a monetary amount of 250,000 EUR, of which 7,500 EUR will constitute prize money with the rest earmarked for further research.
Eligibility
The award is open to research scientists and engineers of any nationality who have been resident in Europe for at least 12 months prior to the announcement of the award.
Current members of the Royal Society Council or Académie des sciences, Microsoft employees and employees of other company research laboratories are not eligible for the award.
For more detail on eligibility and the award please see the terms and conditions.
2009 winner
The 2009 award for research at the intersection of computing and biological sciences was presented to Dr Peer Bork from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) for his innovative and extensive contributions to computational biology. Dr Bork has made outstanding contributions to computational analysis of protein domains and their use in the prediction of functions; evolutionary studies on alternative splicing; single-nucleotide polymorphisms and their structural interpretation; and, most recently, computational analysis of molecular networks.
Click here for more information about previous winners.
Selection
The nominations for the Microsoft Award will be assessed by a committee comprising representatives of the Royal Society and Académie des Sciences. This Committee will recommend to the respective Councils the recipient of the Award. Members of the committe are:
- Professor Denis Weaire FRS, School of Physics, Trinity College, Dublin Committee Chair
- Sir Tom Blundell FRS, Department Of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge
Professor Daan Frenkel ForMemRS, Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge
- Professor Janet Thornton FRS, Director, European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBI)
- Sir Antony Hoare FREng FRS, Senior Researcher, Microsoft Research
- Professor Alain-Jacques Valleron, Faculté de Médecine Pierre et Marie Curie et Hôpital Saint-Antoine
- Professor Jean Illiopoulous, Laboratoire de physique théorique, École normale supérieure
- Professor Claude Berrou, Institut TELECOM, Université Européenne de Bretagne
- Professor Bernard Dujon, Département "Structure et dynamisme des génomes", Institut Pasteur
- Professor Alain Prochiantz, Chaire des Processus Morphogénétiques, Collège de France
Selection will be based on past achievement in the field, rather than the proposed research albeit that where two candidates are deemed to be equal, the strength of their proposed research programme will be used to determine the winner.
Making a nomination
The online nomination process for the Award comprises two parts:
Form A, completed by the nominator, outlines the nominees scientific record and suitability for the award. The nominator is also asked to give contact details for two referees who will be approached by the Royal Society for a reference to support the nomination.
Form B, completed by the candidate outlines the proposed research programme and how they intend to spend the grant earmarked for further research.
Nominations are now closed for the 2009 Award. Nominations for the next award will be announced in due course.