Faraday mid-career prize: Bourke-Liversidge Prize

Key Information

Deadlines

• Nominations open 15 October.
• Nominations close 14 January, 17:00 GMT.

Eligibility

Individuals named in any of the following roles during the nomination and judging period are not eligible to nominate, or be nominated:

• Faraday Prize Committee members
• RSC Subject Community Presidents
• RSC Prize Committee members
• Trustees of the Royal Society of Chemistry
• Royal Society of Chemistry staff 

Nominators:

• Only RSC members can nominate for this prize.
• Nominees may NOT nominate themselves.

Nominees:

• The prize is open to nominees working in the UK and Ireland only.
• Nominees should be a mid-career scientist (for further details, see information below and in the ‘Guidelines for Nominators’ section).
• Nominees can only be considered for one of our Research & Innovation Prizes in any given year. In a case where a nominee is nominated for more than one prize independently, RSC staff will ask the nominee which prize they would like to be considered for.
• We will not consider nominations of deceased individuals.

Career stage guidance

• After fully taking account of any time away from research, career breaks or interruptions, nominees will typically have no more than 20 years of full-time equivalent professional experience at the closing date for nominations.
  • We define this as experience gained as part of a career working in scientific research, excluding time spent in full-time education. For example, experience studying as a postgraduate (PhD) student is not included, but this does include experience working as e.g. a post-doctoral researcher, or working in research in industry.
  • Nominators will be asked to provide details of the nominee's professional experience, in relation to the above criteria (see ‘Guidelines for Nominators’). The Prize Committee will consider this information in relation to the eligibility criteria, and they have the discretion to consider any nomination for a different prize under their remit.
• We particularly encourage nominations of disabled people, those who work part-time, or whose career has spanned a break for any reason – for example, a period of parental or adoption leave, caring responsibilities, long-term illness, family commitments, or other circumstances. We understand that these can impact a nominee’s career in different ways, and encourage nominators to use the space provided on the nomination form to explain the nature and impact of the nominees’ individual circumstances (see 'Guidelines for Nominators' for further details).
• Please do not hesitate to contact the team at awards@rsc.org should you have any questions about the above.

Guidelines for nominators

General information

• When nominating previous RSC prize winners, please remember that a person cannot be awarded twice for substantially the same body of work.
• Nominees should only be nominated once for this prize in any given prize cycle. In cases where we receive more than one nomination for the same nominee, only one nomination will go forward to judging.
• Since 2023, we have been trialling a process where all unsuccessful nominations will automatically rollover once, to be considered for the next round of the prize, unless the nominee's circumstances have changed to make them ineligible. This means that:
  • All nominations submitted for the first time for a 2024 prize will be considered for a 2025 prize. We strongly encourage nominators to update their nomination between cycles when the nomination window is open.
  • The RSC Prize Committee will review the outcomes from the trial in July 2025.

Submitting your nomination

Please use our online nominations system to submit the following information:

• Your name, contact details, and RSC membership number (please contact the RSC Membership team if you do not know your membership details).Your RSC membership must be confirmed at the point of nomination – it is not sufficient to have a membership application in process. The identity of nominators is not made known to our judging panels. The RSC reserves the right to amend nominations if necessary to ensure the anonymity of the nominator.
• Your nominee's name and contact details.
• An up to date CV for the nominee (no longer than one A4 side, 11pt text) which should include a summary of their education and career, and a maximum of 5 relevant publications or patents.
• Information relating to your nominee’s career and professional experience, which will be shared with the committee. Before doing so, RSC staff will always seek consent from the nominee in cases where special category data is mentioned. Please make sure that you provide enough information for the committee to understand the nature and impact of any time away from research.
  • Date (month and year) of the start of their career working in scientific research.
  • Details (dates and time periods) of any part-time work, time away from research, career breaks or interruptions – for example, parental/adoption leave, caring responsibilities, long-term illness, family commitments, etc.
  • Any other circumstances not captured above – for example, long-term conditions, disabilities, etc., that you would like the committee to be aware of and consider.
• A short citation describing what the nominee should be awarded for. This must be no longer than 250 characters (including spaces) and no longer than one sentence.
• A supporting statement (up to 750 words) addressing the selection criteria. Our guidance for nominators page has more information on writing this supporting statement.
• A statement (up to 100 words) describing how your nominee has contributed more broadly to the scientific community. A list of possible examples is outlined in the ‘selection criteria’ tab.
• References are not required for this prize and will not be accepted.

The RSC reserves the right to rescind any prize if there are reasonable grounds to do so. All nominators will be asked to confirm that to the best of their knowledge there is no impediment, relating to professional conduct, to their nominee receiving this prize. All prize winners will be asked to sign the RSC’s Code of Conduct Declaration for Recognition. 

Selection Criteria and Judging Panel

Our selection committees base their evaluations on the overall quality of relevant contributions and achievements by nominees, in relation to the selection criteria listed below.

The scientific content of any supporting publications, as described in the supporting statement, is much more important than publication metrics or the identity of the journal in which it is published.

The selection committee will consider the following aspects of nominations for this prize:

• Originality of research
• Impact of research
• Quality of publications and/or patents and/or software
• Innovation
• Professional standing
• Collaborations and teamwork
• Other indicators of esteem indicated by the nominator

In an instance where multiple nominees are judged equally meritorious in relation to the above criteria, judging panels have the flexibility to use information provided by the nominator on the nominee’s broader contribution to the chemistry community as an additional criterion.

Examples of relevant contributions could include, but are not limited to:

• Involvement with Royal Society of Chemistry member groups/networks
• Teaching/demonstrating
• Effective mentorship
• Service on boards, committees or panels
• Leadership in the scientific community
• Peer-reviewer
• Promotion of diversity and inclusion
• Advocacy for chemistry
• Public engagement and outreach

Faraday Prize Committee

• Andrew Mount, University of Edinburgh (Chair)
• Nicholle Bell, University of Edinburgh
• Carmen Domene, University of Bath
• Alexandra Gibbs, University of St Andrews
• Brianna Heazlewood, University of Liverpool
• Nikolas Kaltsoyannis, University of Manchester
• Jan Verlet, Durham University

History of the prize

This prize was created in 2020, as part of a series of changes following an independent review of the Royal Society of Chemistry's recognition programmes.

The Bourke-Liversidge Prize merges the Bourke Award (which ran between 1955 and 2020) and the Liversidge Award (which ran between 1928 and 2020). Click through for more information on these two awards, including a list of previous winners.

John Bourke

The Faraday Division created the Bourke Award to commemorate Lieutenant Colonel John Bourke (1865-1933). Bourke became a founding member of the Faraday Society in 1903, which later became the Faraday Division.

Born in Kilkea, Ireland, Bourke studied Experimental Physics and then Medicine at the Royal University of Ireland, graduating a doctor in 1891. From there, he joined the Indian Medical Service in 1893, where he was commissioned as a Surgeon-Lieutenant. He became a probationer in the Chemical Department in 1897 and quickly progressed to become Chemical Advisor to the Government of Bombay in 1898.

After returning to England to study further advances in Chemistry at the Royal College of Science, he served in China during the Boxer Rebellion before appointment as Probationary Assay Master in India in 1901. Subsequent promotions saw him become Deputy Assay Master at the Bombay Mint in 1902 and Assay Master at the Calcutta Mint in 1911. Despite retiring to London in 1913, Bourke returned to India during the First World War and was Master of the Mint in Calcutta by 1919.

When he finally returned to England in 1919 he was appointed as a Companion of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire. Throughout his retirement, Bourke continued to undertake chemical and physical experiments in his home, which he fitted with high quality laboratory apparatus, as well as an extensive library of scientific textbooks.

Archibald Liversidge

The Liversidge Award was named after Professor Archibald Liversidge, a benefactor of the then-named Chemical Society. 

Liversidge, born in 1846 in Turnham Green, London, went on to study science at the Royal College of Chemistry and the Royal School of Mines.  After a period at the Royal School of Navy Architecture as a chemistry instructor he moved to Christ's College, Cambridge, where he demonstrated in the laboratories and obtained his MA. In 1872 Liversidge took up the post of Professor of Chemistry and Mineralogy at the University of Sydney. He was instrumental in the opening of a new faculty of Science, for which he was the first Dean from 1879 until his retirement in 1907, and is one of few who admitted women to the university. By the time he retired the chemistry department had grown to include seven lecturers and demonstrators and 200 students.

A keen advocate of investigative teaching methods, Liversidge sat on the original Board of Technical Education. One of his main priorities was to raise the standard and recognition of secondary and tertiary education. Also keen to promote science as widely as possible he became a trustee of the Australian Museum, founded the Australian Association for the Advancement of Science, of which he was President from 1897, and created the Sydney section of the Society of Chemical Industry, for which he was chairman (1903-5). Other important offices held by Liversidge were Vice-President of the Society of Chemical Industry (1909-12) and Chemical Society (1910-13).

One of Liversidge's major scientific publications, The Minerals of New South Wales, highlighted his main scientific interest. His research into dusts of meteoric origin led him to be one of the first to detect gold and platinum in such material. Throughout his research career he contributed over 100 papers to the Chemical Society, the Royal Society and the Royal Society of New South Wales.

The Liversidge Award was established in 1925 through a bequest from Archibald Liversidge. In 2021, the purposes of this Trust were amended, and remaining monies were combined with other generous bequests and donations to become part of the RSC Recognition Fund.