/ Medals and awards

Royal Medals

These medals are awarded for the most important contributions in the physical, biological and applied sciences.

  • Opening date

  • Closing date

  • Winners announcement

The award 

Each year two medals are awarded for the most important contributions to the advancement of "Natural Knowledge” in the physical and biological sciences respectively. A third medal is awarded for distinguished contributions in the applied sciences.

The three Royal Medals, also known as the King’s Medals, are awarded annually by the Sovereign on the recommendation of the Council of the Society. Frederick Sanger FRS, Max Perutz FRS and Francis Crick FRS are among those who have been awarded a Royal Medal.

The Royal Medals were founded by HM King George IV in 1825. Between 1826 and 1964 two medals were awarded each year. In 1965 the third medal, covering the applied sciences, was introduced on behalf of HM Queen Elizabeth II.

Eligibility

The Royal Medals are open to UK/Commonwealth/Republic of Ireland citizens or those who have been residents for three or more years. They are restricted to senior scientists and nominations will remain valid and shall be considered by the award selection committee throughout three nomination cycles. Teams or groups may now be nominated for these awards.

Nominations are currently closed

Nominations are closed and will reopen on 1 December 2025.

2025 winners

  • Professor Anthony Davis

    Professor Anthony Davis

    Professor Anthony Davis is awarded the Royal Medal 2025 for inventing a glucose-binding molecule with exceptional capabilities and working towards applications via start-up companies Ziylo and Carbometrics. Professor Anthony Davis would like to thank Dr Harry Destecroix, Dr Rob Tromans and Dr Andy Chapman for their contributions to this work.
  • Professor Susanne von Caemmerer FAA ML FRS and Professor Graham Douglas Farquhar AO FAA FRS

    Professor Susanne von Caemmerer FAA ML FRS and Professor Graham Douglas Farquhar AO FAA FRS

    Professor Susanne von Caemmerer FAA ML FRS and Professor Graham Douglas Farquhar AO FAA FRS are jointly awarded the Royal Medal 2025 for refining the ways we monitor and model photosynthesis in leaves from molecular to global scales.
  • Professor Matthew Rosseinsky OBE FRS

    Professor Matthew Rosseinsky OBE FRS

    Professor Matthew Rosseinsky OBE FRS is awarded the Royal Medal 2025 for pioneering contributions to the design and discovery of materials, changing our understanding of synthesis to create function with digital tools.

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Past winners

  • Professor Marc Feldmann FRS and Professor Ravinder Maini FRS
    Awarded in 2024

    Professor Sir Ravinder Maini FMedSci FRS and Professor Sir Marc Feldmann AC FMedSci FRS

    Professor Sir Ravinder Maini FMedSci FRS and Professor Sir Marc Feldmann AC FMedSci FRS are awarded the Royal Medal 2024 for inventing anti-TNF therapy to treat rheumatoid arthritis, bringing their therapeutic from bench to bedside in one of the biggest success stories in modern medicine, and laying the groundwork for biologics to improve the quality of life for millions of people.
  • Sir Michael Stratton - Onur Pinar / Wellcome Sanger Institute
    Awarded in 2024

    Sir Michael Stratton FMedSci FRS

    Sir Michael Stratton FMedSci FRS is awarded the Royal Medal 2024 for his foundational contributions to cancer genomics, the discovery of cancer genes and the identification of mutational signatures, which have transformed our understanding of cancer and somatic mutation. Picture credit: Onur Pinar; Wellcome Sanger Institute
  • Professor Tejinder Virdee FRS
    Awarded in 2024

    Sir Tejinder Virdee FRS

    Sir Tejinder Virdee FRS is awarded the Royal Medal 2024 for extraordinary leadership and profound impact on all phases of the monumental CMS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider, including the crucial discovery of the Higgs boson through its decays to two photons.
  • Antony Hoare
    Awarded in 2023

    Sir Antony Hoare FREng FRS

    For groundbreaking contributions that have revolutionised the computer programming field, the development of "Hoare logic" that has paved the way for provably correct code, providing a robust framework for ensuring software reliability.
  • Herman Waldmann
    Awarded in 2023

    Professor Herman Waldmann FMedSci FRS

    For pioneering monoclonal antibodies for human therapy.
  • Patrick Vallance and Christopher Whitty
    Awarded in 2023

    Sir Patrick Vallance KCB FMedSci FRS and Sir Christopher Whitty KCB FRS

    For their pivotal role in ensuring that the UK’s response to the covid-19 pandemic has benefitted from the very best science and evidence.
  • Richard Ellis
    Awarded in 2022

    Professor Richard Ellis CBE FRS

    For motivating numerous advances in telescopes and instrumentation, and exploited these facilities to revolutionise the understanding of cosmological evolution.
  • Stephen West
    Awarded in 2022

    Dr Stephen West FMedSci FRS

    For discovering and determining the function of the key enzymes that are essential for recombination, repair and the maintenance of genomes.
  • Geoffrey Hinton
    Awarded in 2022

    Professor Geoffrey Hinton CC FRS

    For pioneering work on algorithms that learn distributed representations in artificial neural networks and their application to speech and vision, leading to a transformation of the international information technology industry.
  • Professor Michael Green FRS
    Awarded in 2021

    Professor Michael Green FRS

    For crucial and influential contributions to the development of string theory over a long period, including the discovery of anomaly cancellation.
  • Dennis Lo
    Awarded in 2021

    Professor Dennis Lo FRS

    For the discovery of foetal DNA in maternal plasma, developing non-invasive prenatal testing, and making foundational contributions for other types of liquid biopsies. He has made a major impact on pre-natal diagnosis.
  • Colin Humphreys
    Awarded in 2021

    Sir Colin Humphreys CBE FREng FRS

    For excelling in basic and applied science, university-industry collaboration, technology development and transfer, academic leadership, promotion of public understanding of science, and advising on science to public bodies.