RAS Thesis Prizes 2024 – Call for nominations

Each year the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) recognises the best PhD theses in astronomy and geophysics completed in the UK. 

Three prizes are available: the Michael Penston Prize for astronomy, the Keith Runcorn Prize for geophysics, and the Patricia Tomkins Prize for instrumentation science in either astronomy or geophysics. The winners receive £1,000 and an invitation to present the results of their thesis at a meeting of the RAS and runners-up will receive £50 book tokens.  

Nominees must have completed their PhD (viva held and all corrections completed) at a UK university during 2024. For more details and to submit a nomination, please click on the links below:

• The Michael Penston Prize, for theses in astronomy and astrophysics, including cosmology, astrobiology etc.
• The Keith Runcorn Prize, for theses in geophysics, including seismology, solar physics, planetary science etc.
• The Patricia Tomkins Prize for theses in instrumentation science for astronomy and geophysics - while the support is aimed at developing skills in scientific hardware such as electronics, detectors, and optics, the development of novel software specific to a hardware project will also be considered. The Patricia Tomkins prize is sponsored by the Patricia Tomkins Foundation.

 The deadline for nominations is Friday, January 31, 2025.