InstMC Presidential Lecture and Awards Evening

On Thursday, 29 October 2015, the institute held its annual presidential lecture and awards evening at the Wellcome Collection in London.

The Wellcome Collection is a museum displaying an unusual mixture of medical artefacts and original artworks exploring ‘ideas about the connections between medicine, life and art’. This impressive location was a fitting venue for the new President of the Institute, Professor Sarah Spurgeon, OBE, to present her paper on ‘Systems and Control Theory: A Societal Perspective’ and for the institute to recognise the many achievements of this year’s award recipients.

Prof. Ken Grattan was in attendance to formally announce the medal awards, as was Lord Oxburgh to personally award the Oxburgh medal. Lord Oxburgh made the comment that he always thought you had to be dead to have a medal named after you, but he was most pleased to be alive, well and very much able to participate in the inaugural award of this medal.

The award ceremony was followed by a meal and drinks where members, medal holders and guests were able to share further details of their achievements and socialise.

InstMC Prizes and Awards – 2015

• 1. Awards (based on achievement)

Oxburgh Medal – (incorporating the Alec Hough Grassby Award) for contribution to measurement, instrumentation and control in the field of environmental science and engineering of outstanding merit:

Professor Alex Halliday, FRS, University of Oxford

Sir Harold Hartley Medal – for outstanding contribution to the technology of measurement and control:

Professor Alessandro Astolfi, PhD, Imperial College

The Callendar Medal – for outstanding contribution to the art of instruments or Measurement

Professor Tony Wilson, Hon. FRMS, University of Oxford

Finkelstein Medal – for notable contributions to measurement internationally

Professor Dr Manfred Peters, Physikalisch Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Germany

• 2. Awards (for service to the Institute/profession)

The Tallantire Award (formerly the Institute Exceptional Achievement Award) – awarded, when appropriate, for exceptional commitment and service to the Institute and to achieving its aims and objectives:

Eur Ing David Kent, HonFInstMC

Honorary Fellowship – recognising distinguished, and normally long, service to the Institute and or measurement and control:

Dr Brian Bowsher, NPL

Professor John Gray, FInstMC

• 3. Awards (for published papers)

Honeywell Prize – for the best paper in Measurement & Control (based on most downloaded article) (April 2013 – April 2014) in the Journal

Tom Nobes, Steve Parkinson and Neil Hankey, ‘Using Advanced Diagnostics in Differential Pressure measurements’ Measurement + Control, October 2014.

ICI Prize – for best paper in the Transactions, preferably concerning work on the industrial application of control:

Jing Deng et al., ‘Low-cost process monitoring for polymer extrusion’ Transactions

Worshipful Company of Scientific Instrument Makers Award – for best paper, in either the journal or Transactions, on development or application of scientific instrumentation

Stuart Davidson and Ian A Robinson, ‘Preparations for the Forthcoming Redefinition of the Kilogram’