Prof Louise Harra and team awarded 2016 Daiwa Adrian Prizes

The winners of the 2016 Daiwa Adrian Prizes, the prestigious awards for scientific collaboration in the UK and Japan, have been announced. Following an assessment conducted by a panel of Fellows of the Royal Society, the Trustees of The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation have awarded four Daiwa Adrian Prizes of £10,000 to joint UK-Japan scientific research teams.

This included Professor Louise Harra (UCL Space & Climate Science) and her team who worked in collaboration with Dr. Hirohisa Hara (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan) and his team on understanding magnetic energy release at all scales in the solar atmosphere. From small-scale jets and flares that are seen anywhere on the sun, to large scale explosions that are hard to predict and can have a significant impact on the Earth.

Professor Harra said, "We are delighted to have won the Daiwa Adrian Prize. We have collaborated with our Japanese colleagues for many years, and the data from the Yohkoh and Hinode spacecrafts have led to major discoveries in solar physics. It is fitting that this award has been received close to the 10th birthday of the Hinode spacecraft. We look forward to many more years and future instrument ideas!"

Daiwa Adrian Prizes are awarded by The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation on a triennial basis in recognition of significant scientific collaboration between British and Japanese research teams. They were established in 1992 and subsequently renamed to commemorate the late Lord Adrian, a founding Trustee of the Foundation, at whose initiative the Prizes were established.

Since their launch, 42 Prizes totalling £485,000 have been awarded to 84 teams representing 77 different institutions, including 36 from the UK and 39 from Japan - indicating the breadth and diversity of scientific achievement by scientists in the two countries.

The Prizes were assessed by the Royal Society's Hook Committee, chaired by Professor Richard Morris CBE FMedSci FRS. In the Committee's appraisal, comments ranged from 'A truly international collaboration, longstanding, tightly interwoven and productive' to 'The potential impact of this research is very exciting and the underlying science captivating.'

Previous Daiwa Adrian Prizes have recognised ground-breaking work in areas as diverse as antibiotics research, plasma physics, aerospace exploration and plant-pathogen interaction.

Links

UCL Space & Climate Physics
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Nagoya University
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science
Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation