University of Limerick graduate receives award for entry in Kathleen Lonsdale RIA Chemistry Prize
UL graduate Niraj Patil won €2,000 and will represent Ireland in the 2026 IUPAC-Solvay International Award for Young Chemist
UNIVERSITY of Limerick graduate, Dr Niraj Patil has been recognised for his PhD thesis, entitled, ‘Mechanistic Elucidation and Tailored Synthesis of Nanoscale Colloidal Functional Materials for Energy Conversion Technologies.’
The Kathleen Lonsdale RIA Chemistry Prize, which is sponsored by Henkel, is awarded for outstanding doctoral research in the chemical sciences carried out on the island of Ireland. The award is named in honour of the famous Irish x-ray crystallographer, Kathleen Lonsdale, who was born on January 28, 1903.
The prize includes an award of €2,000 and the prize winner is also nominated by the Royal Irish Academy to represent Ireland in the 2026 IUPAC-Solvay International Award for Young Chemists. The 2026 highly commended awards were sponsored by the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Professor Sylvia Draper, Chair of the Royal Society of Chemistry Irish Local Section, presented the two highly commended awards at a ceremony in the Royal Irish Academy on Tuesday. The other highly commended candidate was Dr Dominik Duleba from University College Dublin, for his thesis, ‘From fundamentals to applications: harnessing digital chemistry for nanopore sensor development.’
The overall winner of the 2026 Kathleen Lonsdale RIA Chemistry Prize was Dr Filippo Pota from Trinity College Dublin, for his PhD research exploring the use of Metal@Carbon:Nitrogen (M@C:N) materials as a viable, low-cost alternative for hydrogenating biomass-derived organics.
The prize winner and two highly commended candidates had the opportunity to present their research to an audience at the Royal Irish Academy during the prizegiving ceremony.