Current and past members of HSL staff have been awarded medals by the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) for their involvement in producing exceptional published papers.

IChemE medals recognise achievement and work across all aspects of chemical, process and biochemical engineering. The Hutchinson Medal, awarded for both practical and wide-ranging, philosophical or thought-provoking published papers, is normally only awarded to one set of authors, however, an exception has been made for 2010 with two HSL led papers gaining recognition.

HSL's retired former Head of Process Safety Dr Terry Roberts was recommended for the medal along with co-authors Les Shirvill, (Shell Global Solutions) Kevin Waterton (CAPCIS) and Ian Buckland (HSE). The paper 'Fire resistance of passive fire protection coatings after long-term weathering' was published in 'Process Safety & Environmental Protection' in January 2010.

HSL's current Head of Fire and Process Safety Dr Laurence Cusco (pictured below) and HSL Combustion Physics specialist Dr Graham Atkinson were also awarded the medal in recognition of their contribution to the 'Interpretation of overpressure markers and directional indicators in full-scale deflagrations and detonations'.

This paper was published in 'Proceedings of the Hazard XX1 Conference'. The award also goes to co-authors Vincent Tam (BP) and David Painter (HSE). To read this paper see the 'Related Information' box above.

Medals will be presented at the institution's Annual General meeting on 23rd May in London.