JMT catalysis medal winner announced
The UK Catalysis Hub have named Professor Ifan Stephens from Imperial College London as winner of the Sir John Meurig Thomas Catalysis Medal 2025. Prof. Stephens was selected from the nominations for top mid-career scientists working in the United Kingdom to win the medal for 2025. Judges of this year’s Sir John Meurig Thomas Medal said, “We are delighted to award the 2025 JMT Medal to Professor Ifan Stephens for his pioneering and multidisciplinary contributions to electrocatalysis and sustainable energy conversion. His research spans oxygen electrochemistry, hydrogen peroxide synthesis, nitrogen fixation, and battery diagnostics, combining fundamental insight with industrial relevance. Professor Stephens’ work is characterised by innovation, originality, and impactful collaborations across academia and industry, leading to advances with clear commercial and environmental significance.”
The medal honours the achievements of Sir John Meurig Thomas, a distinguished professor in the field of catalysis who sadly passed away in 2020. He was a remarkable man and one of the most eminent figures in catalytic science in the past 100 years, who was a pioneer in many of the techniques and concepts that have now become standard in the field. He was generous with his time and support for the UK Catalysis Hub and its events and the Hub is proud to have established 2016 an annual award in honour of his achievements.
Prof. Stephens said on winning, “I am deeply honoured to receive the John Meurig Thomas Medal. As a Welsh scientist, it feels especially meaningful to receive an award named after Sir John, whose work continues to inspire so many of us. I am also glad that the UK Catalysis Hub recognises the growing importance of electrocatalysis at a time when sustainable routes to fuels and chemicals are becoming ever more urgent.”
Prof. Stephen’s research group works on electrocatalytic routes to sustainable fuels and chemicals, including nitrogen reduction to ammonia, green hydrogen production, CO2 reduction and biomass valorisation. They combine electrochemistry tests with detailed characterisation to unravel the fundamental bottlenecks controlling these important reactions.
The JMT medal was generously sponsored by BP, JM, Dr. Reddy’s, Givaudan and Royal Society of Chemistry Applied Catalysis Group.
Further Information
Selected Papers
1 Westhead, W at al, JACS 2025 - https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.5c03389
2 Liang, C et al Nature Catalysis 2024: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41929-024-01168-7
Links
Research Group website: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/interfacial-electrochemistry-group/
