British Carbon Group Awards

Brian Kelly Award

This annual award was established in 1996 by the British Carbon Group in memory of Brian Kelly, a leading authority on the physics of graphite.

The award is intended as a travel grant for students and early career researchers with up to ten years of postdoctoral experience to attend the annual World Carbon Conference. Anyone living or working, at the time of that conference, in the country where the conference is held is not eligible. As a consequence, applications will not be accepted from China on this occasion.

The award is made upon the basis of an appraisal of THREE documents:

1. The extended abstract or paper as submitted to the conference
2. A short CV (with the date of the award of PhD if applicable)
3. A commentary is provided normally by the candidate's supervisor or close colleague

Self-nomination is not permitted. The Award Committee of the British Carbon Group will determine the successful applicant.

The award is currently seven hundred fifty pounds sterling (£750) and is presented at the time of the conference with a certificate. It is a condition of the award that the winner attends the conference and presents his or her paper either orally or as a poster.

Applications may be sent to the Chairman of The British Carbon Group. Previous applicants are welcome to re-apply.

Past Winners

• 2022: Jacob Martin, Curtin University, Graphite formation through annealable topological defects
• 2020, 2021: No awards
• 2019: Phoebe K. Allan, University of Birmingham, Pair Distribution Function Analysis of Hard Carbon Anode Materials for Sodium-Ion Batteries
• 2018: Huseyin Enis Karahan, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore, Factors influencing the antibacterial activity of graphene oxide beyond materials physicochemistry
• 2017: Riutao Lv, Assistant Professor, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, China
• 2016: Dr. Yasuhiro Yamada, Chiba University, Review for analyses of defects in carbon materials using X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy and computation
• 2015: Dr. Graham Rance, University of Nottingham, Palladium nanoparticles in catalytic carbon nanoreactors: the effect of confinement on Suzuki-Miyaura reactions
• 2014: No award
• 2013: Vilas Pol, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439, USA and Wei Lv, Engineering Laboratory for Functionalized Carbon Materials, Tsinghua University, China (two awards)
• 2012:  Fei Guo, Chemical Engineering, Brown University, USA
• 2011: Monica J. Hanus, School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Sydney, Australia.

Brian Kelly

Brian Kelly was a world authority both on the physics of graphite and on irradiation damage in solids. He was born and educated in Wales and spent most of his career working for the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, UKAEA.

One of his major contributions at UKAEA was the development of specifications for the isotropic graphite required for the graphite core for the British Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors, AGR. Brian’s approach, which he carried out brilliantly, was to underpin engineering design data with an understanding of the basic science. For example, he related the irradiation-induced dimensional changes in the graphite bricks in the reactor core to the displacement of atoms in the graphite crystal.

Brian made many contributions to the basic science of graphite, much of it summarised in his much sought-after book ‘The Physics of Graphite’, Applied Science Publishers, 1981. In 1981 he also received the Charles E Pettinos Award of the American Carbon Society for ‘ his many contributions to the theoretical and experimental aspects of the physics of carbon and graphite….’ After he retired from the UKAEA, Brian was engaged as a consultant by Oak Ridge National Laboratories, USA. During a productive association with ORNL, Brian worked on a number of projects including graphites for high-temperature gas-cooled reactors and the mechanisms of irradiation-induced creep of graphite.

Brian was an engaging person who wore his formidable learning lightly. At conferences, he enjoyed vigorous but good-natured discussions on many topics, particularly on the physics of graphite.