Carlton House Terrace, where the Royal Society is based
Carlton House Terrace, where the Royal Society is based

Oxford Researchers elected to Royal Society

Six scientists from the University of Oxford have joined the Royal Society as Fellows.

All were selected for their outstanding contributions in various scientific fields and are as follows:

For his extraordinarily effective work in explaining profound concepts in particle physics and science in general at all levels of society including in Parliament and to the general public, Professor Frank Close of the Department of Physics is elected to the Royal Society as a Fellow. His work focuses on the strong force that binds quarks to form hadrons and atomic nuclei.

Professor Adrian Hill, Director of the Jenner Institute (Nuffield Department of Medicine), becomes a Fellow for his leading role in the design and development of new vaccines for globally important infectious diseases over the course of over 25 years. He has demonstrated that non-replicating vectored vaccines, particularly simian adenoviruses used in heterologous prime-boost immunisation regimes, can protect safely through cellular as well as humoral immunity – supporting new vaccination approaches for malaria and Ebola.

For her research into a group of rare genetic disorders called lysosomal storage diseases, Professor Frances Platt of the Department of Pharmacology is named a Fellow at the Royal Society. With a view to developing new drug therapies, she has identified that a treatment initially being studied as an anti-viral compound could be used to treat lysosomal diseases.

Professor Endre Süli of the Mathematical Institute is elected a Fellow for his pioneering work in mathematics. He is concerned with the analysis of numerical algorithms for the approximate solution of partial differential equations and the mathematical analysis of nonlinear partial differential equations in continuum mechanics.

Due to his outstanding contribution to scientific understanding, Professor Philip Torr of the Department of Engineering Science becomes a Fellow at the Royal Society. His research focuses on computer vision, pioneering work in object recognition, and segmentation, 3D reconstruction, tracking and scene understanding, for which he has won several awards including the Marr prize in 1998.

Professor Charlotte Williams OBE of the Department of Chemistry becomes a Fellow for her work in developing new sustainable technologies for polymer production and carbon dioxide usage. She aims to combine unconventional raw materials with implementable materials production, processing and to provide polymers designed for recycling and, ultimately, complete degradation.

Sir Adrian Smith, President of the Royal Society, said:

‘This is the first year of my presidency at the Royal Society and I’ve been very much looking forward to welcoming the newly elected Fellows and Foreign Members.

‘The global pandemic has demonstrated the continuing importance of scientific thinking and collaboration across borders.

‘Each Fellow and Foreign Member bring their area of scientific expertise to the Royal Society and when combined, this expertise supports the use of science for the benefit of humanity. It is an absolute pleasure and honour to have them join us.’