Professor Steve Rannard, from the University of Liverpool’s Department of Chemistry, has been awarded the Macro Group UK Medal in recognition of his significant and substantial contribution to the development of polymer science, and for his services to the UK polymer science community.
Professor Rannard will be awarded a silver Medal at a special session of the IUPAC World Polymer Congress in March where he will also deliver his award lecture.
The Macro Group UK is a joint interest group of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Society of Chemical Industry, representing the interests of UK polymer scientists at national and international levels.
This is Professor Rannard’s second medal from the Macro Group UK as he was the first recipient of the Macro Group Young Researcher of the Year Medal in 1997. He has had a long career in the field of polymer science, including cofounding spin-out companies, and is the only researcher to have been awarded these medals for work conducted in both industry and academia.
His research group at the University focuses on polymeric materials and healthcare technologies and his recent research has led to a new synthetic strategy for branched polymers that is creating entirely new polymers with broad ranging potential applications.
In 2020, this work was licenced to Scott Bader in the formation of a joint-venture based in the Liverpool Science Park.
Professor Rannard said: “I am honoured to be awarded the Macro Group UK Medal, especially as the Macro Group spans industrial and academic research. Our recent work at Liverpool has developed highly novel polymer chemistry with commercial value and the medal is testament to the work of the whole group, including technicians, postdoctoral researchers and PhD students.”
Professor Dr Remzi Becer, Chair of Macro Group, said: ”Professor Rannard has been highly successful during both his industrial and then academic career. He has also been the co-inventor of several patents around branched polymers and polymeric nanoparticles for medical applications. Steve will receive his medal during the IUPAC 50th World Polymer Congress which will take place at the University of Warwick on 1st-4th of July.”
Whilst in industry, Professor Rannard co-founded the Recent Appointees in Polymer Science (RAPS) network for young academic and industrial polymer scientists, now in its 23rd year, and since being at Liverpool he co-founded the British Society for Nanomedicine (BSNM) in 2012.
In addition, Professor Rannard is co-director of the Centre of Excellence for Long-acting Therapeutics (CELT), a globally unique research facility,