Prestigious award for early career researcher

Dr Rebecca Melen wins award for outstanding achievements in catalysis research  

A prestigious award recognising the outstanding achievements of female scientists at an early career stage of their research has been awarded to Dr Rebecca Melen from the School of Chemistry.

Dr Melen, a lecturer in inorganic chemistry, has been awarded the Clara Immerwahr Award for her contributions to the field of main group elements in catalysis.

She will be awarded €15,000 to cover a research stay at the Cluster of Excellent UniCat (Unifying Concepts in Catalysis) in Berlin in 2016.

The award has recognised Dr Melen’s work on the main group elements of the periodic table, and how they can be used to drive reactions that are normally catalysed by heavier transition metal catalysts.

On receiving the award, Dr Melen said: “I am thrilled to hear that I have been honoured with the Clara Immerwahr Award. The award provides a great opportunity to study at the UniCat Centre in Berlin where I will explore some new avenues of research. As a previous Humboldt Fellow in Heidelberg, I will enjoy the opportunity to engage with colleagues at UniCat and look forward to immersing myself in the local German culture and developing my language skills further.”

Professor Rudolf Allemann, Head of the School of Chemisty, said: “I was absolutely delighted to learn of Dr Melen’s success in receiving the Clara Immerwahr Award. This award, which recognises Dr Melen’s outstanding results in catalysis research, also underlines Cardiff’s strength in catalysis, as demonstrated by the Cardiff Catalysis Institute and our participation in the Catalysis Doctoral Training Centre. Notably, this is the second time that a young female researcher from our School of Chemistry has received this award, with Dr Jennifer Edwards winning the award in 2013.”

The Clara Immerwahr Award is named after the highly talented young researcher who became the first woman to earn a doctoral degree in physical chemistry at a German university.

Dr Melen will be honoured during a public ceremony in February 2016, which will also involve a guest lecture held by the internationally renowned female scientist, Prof Dr Katharina Al-Shamery.

Dr Melen has also won the 2013 RSC Dalton Young Researcher award and the 2014 European Young Researcher Award.