Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Andy Long, FREng, has been awarded the Leslie Holliday Prize in this year’s IOM3 Awards.

The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining presents a range of awards, medals and prizes to recognise personal achievement, for published work and for contributions to the profession.

Awards are presented at special occasions throughout the year, like the IOM3 Awards, and some award winners deliver lectures, to which all members are invited.

Speaking about the prize, Professor Long said: “I’m delighted to receive this award from the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining. It means a lot to me to have my research on advanced materials over many years to be recognised in this way.”

Professor Long was awarded the Leslie Holliday Prize in recognition of his work with advanced, lightweight composite material over the last three decades. These materials consist of carbon or glass fibres combined with a polymer resin and are used extensively in the aerospace, automotive and wind energy sectors.

His research has focused particularly on the development of computer simulations to optimise manufacturing processes and material design, including through the development of the open source “TexGen” computer model for composite materials which has been downloaded by more than 30,000 users worldwide.