Allan Ure Memorial Bursary

Closing date for nominations 31 May 2013.  Please see the flyer at the bottom of the page for further information regarding the award and the application process.

The Allan Ure Bursary is awarded on an annual basis, alternately by the Atomic Spectroscopy Group of the Analytical Division of the Royal Society of Chemistry (ASG, AD, RSC) and the Atomic Spectrometry Updates (ASU) Editorial Board. 

The award is presented to a scientist, at the start of their career, who the adjudicators believe has made a significant contribution to knowledge in the area of the application of atomic spectrometry to environmental science. 

The successful applicant will receive £500 to help with any expenses that may be of benefit to their career. For example, this could be to travel to or attend a conference, so that they may present their work. 

Background

This award is in memory of Dr Allan Ure, a distinguished analytical chemist who spent many years working with both ASU and ASG. Allan championed the fields of environmental analytical chemistry, atomic spectrometry and speciation and was a pioneer in the development of sequential extraction methods for soils and sediments.

His encouragement and support of young scientists be they undergraduates, postgraduates or post-doctoral fellows and lecturers, was well known. It is therefore fitting that to honour Allan's achievements and the contribution he has made to our science, this bursary be given to help start a scientist's career.

2012 Award

Two very strong candidates presented themselves for the 2012 award. As a result, the committee decided to award bursaries to both candidates

Patricia Coelho, of the University of Surrey, has been working towards a PhD on environmental and occupational exposure to mining residues. She has been using different atomic spectrometry techniques in order to analyze blood, urine, hair and nail samples collected from exposed populations. She intended to use the bursary to enable her to make an oral presentation at the “9th International Symposium on Environmental Geochemistry” held at the University of Aveiro, Portugal.

Adriana Matamoros-Veloza, of the University of Leeds, obtained her Ph.D. in the Department of Environmental Geochemistry at Leeds in January 2012 on the subject “Inorganic pathways controlling selenium mobility in natural environments". She continued to work at Leeds providing technical support in analytical environmental chemistry to ongoing projects in the Environmental Geosciences Research Group. The bursary would help Adriana present her research at the 29th International Conference of the Society for Environmental Geochemistry and Health, in Toulouse, France in July 2013.