This award is presented to researchers whose work is anticipated to have a major impact in the field of surface analysis. It is intended as a recognition of high quality independent research at an early career stage. It is not restricted to members of the UK Surface Analysis Forum (formerly the UK ESCA Users Group and SIMS Users Forum). The award is named after John Vickerman, the founding Chairman of the SIMS Users Forum, in recognition of his pioneering work in SIMS and his leading role in UK surface and interface science.
| 2024 | Naoko Sano (Ionoptika Ltd) – View Citation |
| 2022 | Gustavo Ferraz Trindade (National Physical Laboratory) – View Citation |
| 2021 | David Morgan (Cardiff University) – View Citation |
| 2020 | Jonathan Counsell (Kratos Analytical) – View Citation |
| 2019 | Rasmus Havelund (National Physical Laboratory) |
| 2018 | Andrew Hook (The University of Nottingham) |
| 2016 | Melissa Passarelli (National Physical Laboratory) |
| 2015 | Tom Scott (University of Bristol) |
| 2013 | Mischa Zelzer (The University of Nottingham) |
Citations (Where available)
Dr Naoko Sano has made important contributions to surface analysis by both ToF-SIMS and XPS. During her PhD she developed PCA of ToF-SIMS spectra and images from complex industrial samples to a new level of precision, making significant contributions to a major technological issue. During her time at Newcastle University, she divided her time between applied research and providing an XPS service. In the latter role she established an “across-the-world” system of remote operation. She joined Nara Women’s University as an associate professor in 2016, but in 2019 she returned to the UK to join Ionoptika Ltd where she is currently heavily involved in the development of water clusters as a primary ion source for ToF-SIMS. Naoko is a great supporter of the surface analysis community and a regular attender at UKSAF, ECASIA and AVS Meetings.
Dr. Gustavo Trindade is a talented early career researcher who exhibits that important mix of skills including scientific curiosity, a scholarly approach, technique expertise, a sharp analytical mind, and excellent communication skills thereby setting him apart as a future leader. The evidence of this is clearly seen in the quality of his publication output and the number of papers in prestigious journals that have depended on his contribution including; Luo et. al. Science 2018, Kotowska et. al. Nat. Comms. 2020 and Starr et. al. PNAS 2022.
Since joining NPL in 2021 he has made important contributions as evidenced from his quality journal publications including Analytical Chemistry and ACS Materials and Interfaces. Gustavo made an excellent contribution to Martin Seah’s final paper “OrbiSIMS metrology part I: Optimisation of the target potential and collision cell pressure” recently published in the SIA special volume. He dived deeper into understanding the mechanisms by studying the effects of ion kinetic energy and he discovered new phenomena that he is now investigating in more detail as this could confer important new analytical advantage. “I know that Martin would have greatly appreciated this attention to metrology detail.” – Prof. Ian Gilmore.
Dr Trindade is expert in multivariate analytical methods and this gives him an important edge in his research being able to advance from data to understanding more rapidly than most can. He has a strong community spirit and advocates multivariate data analysis and visualisation through web-seminars and his popular software package, simsMVA, (Trindade et. al. Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems 2018) is publicly available. This has excellent impact with 148 registered users from academia (79%), research institutes (10%) and industry (11%), across 22 countries all over the world. It has also been used in multiple PhD theses.
David has been a recognised expert in XPS and surface analysis for over 20 years. From almost the start of his career he has been the lynchpin of the Cardiff Catalysis Institute’s analytical facilities and in recent years has played a national role as the technical manager of the EPSRC’s national Research Facility in PES. It’s no exaggeration to say that the success of HarwellXPS could not have happened without Dave’s knowledge and guidance. To date, he has contributed to over 200 papers in catalysis, surface chemistry and surface analysis with his paper on the XPS analysis of ruthenium compounds still one of the most highly cited papers in the Wiley journal Surface and Interface Analysis where he also sits on the advisory editorial panel and guest edited a volume with papers from the UKSAF golden anniversary meeting. David has played a prominent role in encouraging young scientists in the area of surface analysis within Cardiff and further afield delivering training courses with a very approachable attitude to sharing and accruing knowledge. This enthusiasm has underpinned the development of the Harwellxps.guru web site which aims to curate all the disparate resources on XPS throughout the world. David has been a strong supporter of the UK surface analysis community taking active roles in UKSAF, BVC and BSI.
Dr Counsell is at the forefront of efforts within Kratos to improve the capabilities of XPS instruments and to provide users with reliable methods and data. Jonathan was instrumental in establishing a calibration scheme for the silver X-ray source which is compatible with that of the normal aluminium source. This enables users to simply and easily compare data taken using two widely different X-ray energies, providing insight into the depth distribution of chemical species. Through active collaborations with others, he has extended the application of argon cluster sputtering to metallic nitrides and, using sample rotation, thick organic films. He contributes extensively to the surface analysis community through his participation in interlaboratory studies, as an ISO technical expert and was recently elected as a member of the AVS Applied Surface Science Division. .