Umicore grants 2010 Scientific Award
Umicore has awarded its 2010-Umicore Scientific Awardto Dr. Damien Debecker, saluting his work in the field of MoO3-based heterogeneous catalysts for the metathesis of propylene.
“This goes to the heart of our business,” Chief Technology Officer Denis Goffaux said at the official ceremony in Brussels on March 31, 2011, at which the prize - along with a cheque of € 10,000 - was awarded to the winner in front of an audience of researchers, academic staff and representatives from government and industry.
By turning the Umicore Scientific Award into an annual event, Umicore aims to highlight the crucial role fundamental academic research has to play in industry and society as a whole: the scientific quest for intelligent clean tech solutions can help turn our society into a sustainable one. The aim of the award is also to get our name out there in the fight for talent. We already work together with dozens of research institutions and universities around the world: some 150 organisations worldwide, Chief Executive Officer Marc Grynberg says. A great deal of fundamental scientific research finds its way into our technologies, giving the group enough firepower to preserve its technological and market leadership.
Dr. Damien Debecker’s (Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL), Belgium) entry was one of 33 from all over Europe, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The “Umicore Scientific Award” is granted to a PhD graduate that, through his/her research, has significantly contributed to science in those fields that are crucial for the future growth of both Umicore’s business and the prospect of a sustainable society (fine particle technology/applications; sustainable technology for metal-containing compounds; sustainable energy related topics; catalysis and finally, economic or societal issues linked to metal-containing compounds). Four additional “Umicore Awards” (each for an amount of € 2,500) were also granted to masters graduates from the University of Mons (David Moerman), the University of Liège (Adrien Timmermans), the University of Gent (Kurt Lejaeghere) and the Catholic University of Leuven (KUL) & University of Antwerp (UA) (Sammy Verbruggen), that have made significant contributions in these fields.
Our partners, the Belgian funds for scientific research FWO and FNRS, selected the laureates and ensured the scientific excellence of the awards.
In 2011 Umicore will again sponsor the Scientific Award 2011 edition.
Links of interest:
- Regulations & application forms for 2011 Scientific Award edition