Charlotte Williams and Iain McCulloch receive Royal Society awards

Congratulations to Professor Charlotte Williams OBE FRS and Professor Iain McCulloch FRS, who are among the recipients of this year's Royal Society awards.

Prof Williams has been awarded the Armourers & Brasiers’ Company Prize which is awarded for excellent use-inspired basic research in functional or structural materials. Her research focusses on using innovative catalysis and polymer chemistry to try to reduce environmental pollution.

Prof Williams' discoveries have enabled the efficient production of high-performance plastics, elastics, electrolytes for batteries and even water-soluble polymers for use in beauty and cleaning products. Recent research highlights include her discovery of innovative catalysts that transform waste carbon dioxide into polymers. All her materials are designed from the outset with their end-of-life in mind, so that they are reusable, fully recyclable or fully biodegradable. She leads a research team in the Department of Chemistry and works with a range of business partners. She is also the founder and a director of econic technologies, which sells catalysts and technologies for carbon dioxide transformation into polymers.

Prof Williams said:

I am honoured by the recognition for my work in catalysis and polymer materials. Since this award recognises science with real-world impact, I really want to acknowledge the value of academic-industry teamwork. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with scientists, engineers and leaders in many companies and especially want to acknowledge all my colleagues at econic technologies. It’s been an incredible journey to see my science transformed from discoveries in the university laboratories into large-scale commercial processes and products.

Prof McCulloch has been awarded the Hughes Medal, which recognises outstanding contributions in the field of energy. He researches chemistry-based solutions that can help address global warming. One promising approach is using hydrogen as both replacement for fossil fuels and as a chemical reagent, generated from water rather than from fossil fuels. 

Prof McCulloch’s group focusses on designing and synthesizing organic semiconducting polymers, to efficiently absorb solar irradiation and convert this into electrical charges which can be used to drive chemical reactions as well as provide electrical power. This includes fabricating organic semiconducting nanoparticle photocatalysts to split water into molecular hydrogen and oxygen. Additionally, his group are pursuing other related technologies including organic photovoltaics for electricity generation.

Prof McCulloch said:

“It is a huge honour to be awarded the Royal Society Hughes Prize. Clean energy provision is one of the most important global challenges of today, requiring innovative technologies across sectors currently using fossil fuels. My research relies on having excellent, and patient, collaborators and colleagues, as well as having group members who are comfortable to extend their expertise into areas beyond their educational background and comfort zones. This award is testimony to their endeavours.”

You can read more about the other Oxford winners here, and all of the 2026 Royal Society awards here.