Kieran Agg wins 2026 Katharine Burr Blodgett Award

Recent Oxford Chemistry DPhil graduate Kieran Agg has been awarded the 2026 Katharine Burr Blodgett Award by the Joint Colloids Group of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and the Society of Chemical Industry (SCI).

The prize is awarded annually for the best PhD research in colloid and interface science. It is named in honour of Katharine Burr Blodgett, who was the first woman to receive a PhD in Physics from the University of Cambridge.

Kieran was a doctoral researcher in Physical and Theoretical Chemistry from 2021, funded by a Clarendon Scholarship. He successfully defended his thesis, entitled Surface Forces and Structure in Model Cytosol Solutions, in September 2025. His work, performed in Prof Susan Perkin’s research group, investigated how molecules within the cellular environment influence interactions, solution structure and biomolecular stability.

As part of the award, Kieran will give an invited talk at the 9th Annual Early Career Colloid Meeting next year.

Kieran is currently a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at the Ellison Institute of Technology, working within the Materials and Devices for Life Sciences Institute to research next-generation nanopore sensing technologies.