Professor Sir Richard Catlow receives AAAS award

UK Catalysis Hub management group member Professor Sir Richard Catlow, UCL/Cardiff University has been awarded the AAAS David and Betty Hamburg Award for Science Diplomacy along with Sir Martyn Poliakoff from the University of Nottingham for their, "unprecedented work in building durable global networks promoting scientific collaboration."

The award is given to an individual or a small group working together in the scientific, engineering or foreign affairs communities making an outstanding contribution to furthering science diplomacy.  The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) recognised their efforts to bring communities together over many years including those they served as  Royal Society Foreign Secretaries resulting in collaborations between British, U. S, European, South African and North Korean scientists.

Prof. Catlow said, “International Collaboration is vital for science and helps bridge nations and regions. The Catalysis Hub recognises its key role as for example in the workshop we will be holding in May with the Chinese Catalysis Society.”

Prof. Catlow's advocacy for early-career researchers and the international mobility of scientists was also mentioned in the award announcement by the AAAS.

Prof. Catlow has contributed to the management of the UK Catalysis Hub since 2013. He has long standing experience in the development and applications of both experimental and computer modelling techniques in catalysis and molecular sciences. He holds approximately £2.5M of current EPSRC funding and has extensive experience in the field of HPC simulation techniques. Prof. Catlow has been PI of the EPSRC funded Materials Chemistry HPC consortium for 15 years and has wide experience in managing large flexible consortium grants including a portfolio partnership grant (2005-2010), a High Performance Computing Consortium grant (2008-2013), and is currently the PI of the Centre for Catalytic Science (2011-2016).

The American Association for the Advancement of Science is a multidisciplinary scientific society and leading publisher of the Science family of journals, founded in 1848 with a mission to advance science, engineering, and innovation throughout the world for the benefit of all. Read more about the AAAS awards at https://www.aaas.org/news/aaas-announces-2026-award-winners.

Find out about the Cat Hubs international events and outreach on our international interactions page and for event news visit our events page.