PROFESSOR JIM AL-KHALILI OBE

This celebrity academic is a theoretical physicist at the University of Surrey where he holds a joint chair in physics and in the public engagement in science. He achieved his PhD in nuclear reaction theory and has since published over 100 papers and studies in the field. He is currently exploring the application of quantum mechanics in biology and has set up the world’s first doctoral training centre in quantum biology. He is a prominent author and broadcaster; his prominence highlighted by him being chosen as one of twenty-one "Faces of UK Science" for an exhibition in London's National Portrait Gallery. He has written 14 books which have been translated into twenty-six languages. He is well known to the British public as a presenter of science documentaries and in 2012 he began hosting the award-winning BBC Radio 4 programme, The Life Scientific to critical acclaim.

His contributions to the sciences and education field have been recognised and appreciated through his receipt of awards and accolades such as his appointment of OBE in 2008, inaugural winner of the Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication in 2019 and most recently elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2018. We further applaud his achievements by awarding this individual the ‘Outstanding Achievement in Science’