Professor Thomas Maschmeyer wins RK Murphy Medal

The RK Murphy Medal is the most prestigious honour awarded by the RACI’s Industrial Chemistry Division, and recognises outstanding achievement in process chemistry, chemical engineering or related areas in the chemical industry, including commercial or marketing functions.

Professor Thomas Maschmeyer won the award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the creation, development and commercialisation of many new technologies in the field of industrial chemistry and chemical engineering.

“Winning the RK Murphy Medal is a great endorsement for the translational efforts of my team, moving from the laboratory into commerciality. Our work shows that Australian science and technology can compete on the world stage,” said Professor Maschmeyer.

Professor Maschmeyer is founding Director of the Laboratory of Advanced Catalysis for Sustainability. He was also the founding director for Sydney Nano when it launched in 2016 as the Australian Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology.

In 2015 he founded Gelion Technologies, a university spin-off company that has developed an entirely new form of battery using zinc and bromine. He currently serves as its Executive Chairman.

He is co-founder of the low carbon and renewable energy start-ups Ignite Energy Resources and Licella. Licella currently operates three joint ventures: in Canada – Canfor Pulp; in UK – Armstrong Chemicals; and in Australia – iQRenew. He is also one of the founding professors of Avantium, an ESX-listed Dutch high-tech company, now with 180+ employees.

With his distinguished career in chemistry, Professor Maschmeyer is a Foreign Member of the Academia Europea, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, and Fellow of the Royal Society of NSW. He has published more than 310 items, including 25 patents.

He serves on the editorial and advisory boards of ten international journals and on the external advisory boards of the State Key Laboratory for Catalysis at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, China; the Cardiff Catalysis Institute, UK; and was President of the Catalysis Society of Australia from 2010 to 2015.

Professor Maschmeyer has won many prestigious awards, including just last week the 2018 Eureka Prize for Leadership in Innovation and Science. He won the 2013 NSW Science and Engineering Award for Renewable Energy Innovation, the 2012 RACI Weickhardt Medal for Economic Contributions through Chemistry, the 2011 RACI Applied Research Award, the 2007 Le Févre Prize from the Australian Academy of Science.