Professor Sylvia Draper wins prestigious chemistry award

Posted on: 04 January 2019

Professor of Chemistry at Trinity, Sylvia Draper, has won the prestigious Institute of Chemistry of Ireland (ICI) David Brown Award.

She received the award at the Inorganic Ireland Symposium in Queen’s University Belfast where she gave a special award lecture entitled: Molecular Aromatic Platforms (MAPS): unexpected destinations from somewhat coordinated journeys.

In presenting the award Professor Stuart James explained that it was in recognition of Professor Draper’s outstanding contribution to inorganic chemistry both nationally and internationally.

The award was established in 2014 to honour Professor David Brown of University College Dublin and his work on ferrocene, and has been presented every two years with the previous winners being Professors A. K. Powel (Karlsruher Institut fur Technologie) and M. McCann (NUIM).

Professor Draper thanked the members of her research team past and present, who have brought so many ideas to life and brought international recognition to her work. She also described how the award marked the historic return of the International Conference of Coordination Chemistry to Dublin. It was last held there in 1974, when it was organised by David Brown (UCD) and Bill Davis (TCD), but will be returning in 2026 thanks to Professor Draper’s efforts in spearheading a successful bid in Japan earlier this year.