Nominations for the Open Medal 2024 will close on 15 October 2024 17:00 GMT. Applications for the Schools’ Poster Competition 2024 will close on 31 October 2024.
The Food Group awards two medals: the Early Career Medal (previously Junior Medal) and Open Medal (previously Senior Medal. Both are awarded biennially, in alternate years.
These awards aim to encourage and recognise excellence in the application of chemical sciences to food from those in academia, in industry, in consultancy or governmental roles.
We also run poster competitions for schools and other establishments and annually run an RSC Food Group prize at the Nursten symposium.
Find out more about these awards and prizes below and meet some of the winners.
Food Group Open Medal
The RSC Food Group Open Medal is awarded for outstanding contributions to the chemical sciences in the area of food chemistry. The prize is sponsored by the RSC Journal Sustainable Food Technology. The winner receives £2,000, a medal and a certificate.
- The winner will be invited to receive their medal at the 50th Anniversary of the Food Group celebrations at Burlington House on 11 December 2024.
- They will be offered the opportunity to deliver a presentation on a topic of their choice at any of the RSC Food Group events.
- The winner will be chosen by the Food Group Awards Committee.
- The competition will be held biennially.
For full details please download the Call Document and the Nomination Form.
Meet our winner for 2022
The RSC Food Group are pleased to announce that Professor Alan Mackie has been awarded the 2022 Royal Society of Chemistry Food Group Open Medal (formerly Senior Medal) in recognition of the impact his research and scientific contributions have had in the field of food chemistry.
Our panel of judges said:
“The early stages of his distinguished academic career included pioneering work showing the phase separation of proteins and surfactants. More recently his work on both the Infogest gastric model, which is internationally recognised and adopted and the gastrointestinal fate of proteins to help determine their allergenicity, has had an impact on people's everyday lives.
Food Group Chair Robert Cordina presenting Prof. Alan Mackie with the Open Career Medal 2022
"His international collaborations underline his reputation in the field, working not only with other academics but also with regulators and working parties.”
Professor Mackie was presented with his medal at the RSC AGM Meeting held at Burlington House on 1 December 2022.
The RSC Food group would like to thank Elsevier for their sponsorship of the Open Medal and the kind donation of £2000 prize.
Winner of the RSC Food Group prize at the Nursten symposium 2023
The Nursten Flavour Symposium (named after the late Professor Harry Nursten) is an annual event specifically dedicated to postgraduate students in the area of food and flavour science in the UK in order to give them early experience in presenting scientific findings to an academic audience.
This was awarded to Roisin McCarron from the University of Reading who has contributed the report below.
“It was held at the University of Nottingham and was a great opportunity to meet others working in food and flavour science from Nottingham and Reading - many of whom I had met at The Nursten Symposium the year before, and it was nice to see again. It was interesting to see what other PhD and MSc students were working on, and how different some of the areas of research are – ranging from biotechnology and microbiology to sustainable agriculture, sensory approaches, and exploring alternative food and drink options. The tour of the Sutton Bonington campus on day 2 was particularly interesting, as the labs contained equipment and methods I was previously unfamiliar with.
I was very pleased and surprised to win the flavour chemistry award, on my presentation on how the nutritional content of plant-based milks may affect the sensory profile. In this, I presented LCMS results on compounds; avenanthramides and avenacosides in commercial oat-based milks, and the correlation between these and astringency as perceived by the sensory panel. The presentation also included results from a study whereby oat-based milk was fortified with varying plant proteins and the effect this had on the sensory profile, particle size, colour, and volatile compounds. In this, we found that potato protein resulted in a powdery mouthfeel and reduced stability, pea protein resulted in astringency, a bitter and metallic taste, as well as increased volatile compounds leading to a higher perceived aroma, and protein, in general, was increasing off-white colour and stale flavour.”
Food Group Early Career Medal
The Early Career Award will be made for the most meritorious contribution to food chemistry on the basis of published papers and/or other documentary evidence over the preceding five years, with less than ten years of professional experience.
The aim of this RSC Food Group award is to encourage and recognise excellence in early career scientists in the application of chemical sciences to the study of all aspects of food, drawing attention to the challenges for chemistry in the food industry and encouraging first-class scientists to enter the field of food chemistry.
Past winners of the award have included Prof Stephen Harding for his studies on the characterisation of food polymers, Prof Gary Williamson for his studies on the role of polyphenols in nutrition and Prof Jenny Ames for her studies on the Maillard reaction, all at early stages of their careers.
Recent winners of the award include Dr Joanne Gould for her research on sustainable food structuring ingredients at The University of Nottingham and Dr Anwesha Sarkar of The University of Leeds, whose research has led to scientific breakthroughs in designing novel food structures with targeted oral lubrication. See other winners below.
Meet our winner for 2023 Early Career Medal
Congratulations to Neslihan Tas of Hacettepe University, Department of Food Engineering, Turkey on winning the Food Group 2023 Early Career Medal.
Against some tough competition, Neslihan impressed the judges with her research into the Maillard reaction and the novel approaches to understanding the chemistry of this complex reaction.
The nominee explained the effect of inorganic salts on the prevention of toxigenic compounds (acrylamide and HMF) and the formation of aroma compounds (furan compounds, Strecker aldehydes, pyrazines) as well as the action mechanism of salts on acrylamide, HMF and aroma compounds.
Her work has made a significant impact to human health and flavour chemistry, which is applicable across a wide range of food applications.
Some of the feedback from the Judges:
Understanding what the end result of the maillard reaction can be and how it can impact the sensory perception of the finished good. This has great impact on the food industry sector to target consumer liking experience.
A step change building upon current understanding of an important topic.
Appears to reveal new insights into how formulation and processing can be used to control Maillard products. Some good papers.
Once again, congratulations Neslihan!
Food Group Schools' Poster Competition 2024
This year the theme will be The Chemistry of Protein Shakes.
Individuals or groups of up to 3 students (aged 14-18) are invited to design an A3/A4 poster on the chemistry of protein shakes. The winning poster designers will be invited to spend a half day making their shakes at a food research company and spending time with food and flavour scientists. Please see the attached poster for further details and how to apply.
The closing date for applications is 31 October 2024, with winners announced by 30 November 2024.
Food Group Schools’ Poster Competition 2023 Winners
The competition was very well supported, and we enjoyed reading all the entries. Thank you to all the schools for their entries and to the teachers supporting this competition and helping us to raise the importance of chemistry in food.
The winning entry
This was from a group of three from Holyhead School, Birmingham:
- Muhammed Sameer Sohail
- Attar Chohan
- Dhanish Lal
Their poster was beautifully presented, easy to read and showcased the chemistry of chocolate from bean to bar, discussing changes at each step in the process (fermentation, roasting, conching), focussing on the development of aroma via the Maillard reaction, texture and appearance during tempering, and the bitter taste and stimulant nature of caffeine.
The runner-up
Melissa Andrews from St Michael's Catholic Grammar School, London
Melissa showed great talent in her beautiful hand-drawn poster of a young person in a tree enjoying a bar of chocolate. The poster was also informative, covering the aspects of the clean snap, shiny appearance, perfect texture and great taste.
Highly commended certificates
These were awarded to:
- Venus Raman from Nottinghill and Ealing High School
- Zain Khan, Alfie Towler, and Robbi Cockburn from Aldenham School
- Valentina Panasiuk from More House School
- Hafsa Bint-Imran, Maryam Soyer, and Nashita Nazeem from Woodford County High School for Girls.
The winners and the runner-up with their teachers were all invited to spend half a day at the Mondelēz chocolate factory in Bournville where they learnt about the origins of cocoa, the different polymorphs and the different aroma compounds which are naturally present in chocolate. Then they had a go at tempering their chocolate.
