2005 Descartes Research Prize: nominees announced

Brussels, 12 July 2005

The Descartes Grand Jury has announced the shortlist for the 2005 Descartes Research Prize for, outstanding scientific work carried out by a multinational team of researchers. These 14 projects will compete for a €1.15m scientific award. The winners of the 2005 award will be announced in London on 2 December.

The shortlist was chosen from 85 submissions – three times more than in 2004. The 14 projects are made up of 76 teams from 22 countries across Europe and also from countries such as US, Japan, Russia, Singapore and South Africa.

The Descartes Research Prize is awarded to teams of researchers who have achieved outstanding scientific and technological results through collaborative research. The prize is open to teams from all fields of scientific endeavour. The prize is awarded by the European Commission as part of its programme to increase contact between science and society.

The shortlist is comprised of the following projects:

Physics:

• the “PULSE” project

headed by Prof. Andrew Lyne at the University of Manchester, Jodrell Bank Observatory, United Kingdom

• the “Turing” project

coordinated by Dr Patrick DeKepper from the Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal in France and Dr. Pierre Borckmans of the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium

• the “EXEL” project

coordinated by Prof. Costas Soukoulis from the Foundation for Research and Technology in Hellas, Greece

• the “Hidemar” project

coordinated by Dr Dino Fioriani of Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerca in Italy

• the “HESS” project

headed by Prof. Stavros Katsanevas at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Life sciences:

• the “PITCID” project

coordinated by Prof. Matthias P. Wymann of the University of Basel in Switzerland

• the “Cancergenes” project

coordinated by Prof. Ian Tomlinson of the London Research Institute, Cancer Research UK and Prof. Lauri Antti Aaltonen of UH.MCB in Finland

• the “Pathfinder” project

headed by Prof. Jan-Ã…ke Gustafsson of Karolinska Institutet, Sweden

• the “EURO-PID” project

coordinated by Prof. Alain Fischer of I.N.S.E.R.M., France

Socio-economic sciences:

• the “ESS” project

headed by Prof. Roger Jowell of City University in the United Kingdom

• the “IDEE” project

co-coordinated by Prof. Robert Frank of UMR IRICE in France

Earth sciences:

• the “CECA” project

coordinated by Prof. Ola M. Johannessen from Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center in Norway

Engineering:

• the “Tannin Adhesives” project

headed by Prof. Antonio Pizzi from ENSTIB in France

Information sciences:

• the “GRAB” project

led by Ms. Teresa Gutierrez with Fundación Labein in Spain

The nominated projects will now be evaluated by the Descartes Grand Jury, comprised of renowned personalities from various academic disciplines, industrial and public life and is chaired by Prof. Ene Ergma, Vice-president of the Estonian Academy of Sciences and Chairperson of the Estonian Parliament. Following the evaluation, five finalists will be chosen and a maximum of five winners will be awarded the Descartes Research Prize.

A second prize for Communication will be awarded at the ceremony on 2 December, with winners chosen from the 63 submissions received in this category.

For more information, visit: http://europa.eu.int/co mm/research/descartes/index_en.htm

See also MEMO/05/252 .

Item source: IP/05/914 Date: 12/07/2005 Previous Item Back to Titles Print Item