University of Cambridge chemist Prof Sohini Kar-Narayan wins Royal Society of Chemistry’s Peter Day Prize

University of Cambridge scientist Prof Sohini Kar-Narayan has won the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Peter Day Prize in recognition of brilliance in research and innovation.

She earned the prize for advancing research in functional polymers and nanocomposites, and their application in energy, sensing and biomedicine using microscale additive manufacturing.

Prof Kar-Narayan receives £3,000 and a medal and joins a prestigious list of past winners, 60 of whom have gone on to win Nobel Prizes for their work, including 2022 Nobel laureate Carolyn Bertozzi and 2019 Nobel laureate John B Goodenough.

She said: “I am delighted, honoured and humbled to have been awarded this prestigious prize.

“I am so grateful to the Royal Society of Chemistry for this recognition of my work, of course to all the people who have supported me over the years, including my brilliant research group without whom this would not have been possible.”

Professor Kar-Narayan’s research group is developing new materials and technologies that could have a wide impact on global healthcare.

The novel polymeric materials they have developed can convert ambient vibrations and waste heat in the environment into electrical energy to power autonomous, wearable health monitoring devices.

Prof Kar-Narayan has worked closely with clinicians and surgeons on sensor-based solutions to improve patient outcomes and her group has worked on novel point-of-care microfluidic devices to speed up diagnostics and drug screening.

Dr Helen Pain, chief executive of the Cambridge Science Park-based Royal Society of Chemistry, said: “The chemical sciences are at the forefront of tackling a range of challenges facing our world. From fundamental chemistry to cutting-edge innovations, the work that chemical scientists do has an important role to play in building our future.

“The RSC’s prizes programme enables us to reflect on and celebrate the incredible individuals and teams whose brilliance enriches our knowledge, advances our understanding, and brings new ideas and technologies that benefit society as a whole. We’re very proud to recognise the contributions of our winners today.”

The RSC has been awarding prizes for more than 150 years and announced the biggest overhaul of the portfolio in its history in 2019 to reflect modern scientific work and culture.

Its research and innovation prizes celebrate brilliant individuals across industry and academia, and include prizes for those at different career stages in general chemistry and for those working in specific fields, as well as interdisciplinary prizes and prizes for those in specific roles.