The Royal Irish Academy awards two RIA Gold Medals every year. The medals are awarded to individuals who have made a demonstrable and internationally recognised outstanding scholarly contribution in their fields. The medals acclaim Ireland’s foremost thinkers in the humanities, social sciences, physical and mathematical sciences, life sciences, engineering sciences and the environment and geosciences.

Jonathan Coleman is the Erasmus Smith's Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy (1724) in the School of Physics and a Principal Investigator in the CRANN and AMBER research centres at Trinity College Dublin. Professor Coleman’s area of interest is in solution processing of nano-materials, predominately carbon nanotubes, nanowires and 2D nanosheets such as graphene. He is most well-known for developing Liquid Phase Exfoliation, a versatile and widely used method for preparing 2D materials. These solution processing methods allow the formation of dispersions, suspensions and solutions of nanostructures and facilitate the production of coatings, thin films and composites. Coleman works on applying these materials and methods in a number of areas including electro-mechanical sensors, printed electronics and energy storage materials. In the latter area, he has particular interest in new electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries, battery electrode architectures and the factors limiting rate performance in batteries. Professor Coleman has been involved in a number of industry-academic collaborative projects with companies including Hewlett-Packard, Intel, SAB Miller, Nokia-Bell Labs and Thomas Swan.

Jane Ohlmeyer MRIA, Professor of Modern History, Trinity College Dublin has been awarded the 2023 Academy Gold Medal in the Humanities.

Professors Coleman and Ohlmeyer will be presented with their Gold Medals at a special ceremony in Spring 2023 and are sponsored by AIB.

The School of Physics community would like to extend their sincere congratulations to Professors Coleman and Ohlmeyer on their significant achievements .

The full announcement is available here.