Professor Samuel Stranks from the University of Cambridge, a specialist in optoelectronics, has been awarded the Stanisław Lem European Science Prize 2022. The chapter's decision was announced during the Celebration of Wrocław University of Science and Technology Day.

The Lem Prize, worth 100,000 PLN, is awarded to young scientists (under 40 years of age) studying or conducting research in the European Union and associated countries. The international chapter evaluates their recent discovery or significant achievement in the broadly defined fields of science and engineering, with a strong focus on technology, interdisciplinarity, creativity, and vision.

During the Celebration of Wrocław University of Science and Technology Day, Rector Professor Arkadiusz Wójs announced that the award for 2022 had gone to Prof. Samuel Stranks from the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology at the University of Cambridge.

He will receive the award at a special ceremony to be held next year.

The laureate's research work addresses the optical and electronic properties of novel semiconductors, including halide perovskites, carbon allotropes, and organic semiconductors developed for cost-effective applications in electronics.

Halide perovskites have created new opportunities for easily configurable and high- performance semiconductors, with the promise of producing low-cost and energy-efficient solar cells and lighting devices. However, for them to reach their expected potential, research is still needed with a view to improving their performance and reliability.

- According to the chapter, Prof. Samuel Stranks' scientific profile is characterised by outstanding scientific competence, innovation, interdisciplinarity, and significant contributions to solving society's most pressing challenges. The laureate also combines extensive experience in international cooperation with active support for budding scientists, said Prof. Arkadiusz Wójs.

Prof Samuel Stranks' work has enabled an understanding of these processes, which is translating into the commercialisation of the technology.

The Stanisław Lem European Science Prize (Lem Prize) was established to commemorate the centenary of the birth of the eminent Polish science fiction novelist, who received an honorary doctorate from Wrocław University of Science and Technology in 1981.

Each year, the laureate is chosen by a chapter composed of prominent academics from abroad and the Wrocław University of Technology and Tomasz Lem, the writer's son.

Benefactors of the Lem Prize: Bergman Engineering, TestArmy Group, Santader Universidades, PGE Górnictwo i Energetyka Konwencjonalna S.A., PKO Bank Polski Foundation and PCC Rokita.

The first winner in 2021 was genetic engineering expert Prof Randall J. Platt from the ETH Zurich.

Samuel Stranks is Professor of Optoelectronics and Royal Society University Research Fellow in the Department of Chemical Engineering & Biotechnology, University of Cambridge.

His group focuses on the optical and electronic properties of emerging semiconductors including halide perovskites, carbon allotropes and organic semiconductors for low-cost electronics applications such as photovoltaics and lighting. Samuel Stranks completed his PhD as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, receiving the 2012 Institute of Physics Roy Thesis Prize.

From 2012-2014, he was a Junior Research Fellow at Oxford University and Worcester College, Oxford, before holding a Marie Curie Fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2014-2016) and starting his group in Cambridge in 2017.

Samuel Stranks received the 2016 IUPAP Young Scientist in Semiconductor Physics Prize, the 2017 Early Career Prize from the European Physical Society, the 2018 Henry Moseley Award and Medal from the Institute of Physics the 2019 Marlow Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry, the 2021 IEEE Stuart Wenham Award, the 2021 Leverhulme Prize in Physics, and the 2021 EES Lectureship.

He is a TED Fellow and was listed by the MIT Technology Review as one of the 35 under 35 innovators in Europe. Samuel Stranks is a co-founder of Swift Solar, a startup developing lightweight perovskite PV panels, and Sustain/Ed, a not-for-profit developing education for school-age children around climate change solutions.

He is also an Associate Editor at the AAAS journal Science Advances.