The Award

The SFI St. Patrick’s Day Science Medal is awarded annually to a distinguished scientist, engineer or technology leader living and working in the USA with strong Irish connections. Running since 2014, the competition was further developed in 2016 to include a specific award for an industry leader. 

Both the industry and academic medals recognise individuals who are not only outstanding in their fields of expertise but who also have demonstrably assisted researchers in Ireland in either academia or industry – via mentorship, supervision, collaboration, industrial development, entrepreneurship or who have made significant contributions to developing the research ecosystem in Ireland.

Nominations are now being sought for the 2024 SFI St. Patrick’s Day Science Medal Award.

Deadline

Nominations must be submitted to sciencemedal@sfi.ie by 5pm (Dublin local time) on Friday October 27th 2023.

Queries

Please email sciencemedal@sfi.ie 

All nomination submissions must be made on the official nomination form.

The nomination submission must include:

  • Nominee details
  • Nominator details
  • Nominator support statement (max 2 pages)*
  • Nominee CV/Resume (max two pages)**
  • Up to two letters of support may also be included. 

The deadline for receipt of nomination submissions is Friday, October 27th 2023. All submissions must be sent via email in .doc format to sciencemedal@sfi.ie.

Eligible nominations from the 2024 and subsequent calls will remain valid for a period of five years, including the year of nomination.

*Nominator support statements longer than two pages will, without exception, be cut off at the end of page two.
**CVs/Resumes longer than two pages will, without exception, be cut off at the end of page two.

The nominee* must be an Irish** scientist, engineer or industry leader who, at the time of the nomination, is living and working in the USA.

Academic Medal Specific Criteria

  • The nominee should be an outstanding academic researcher and recognised as one of the field-leaders in their discipline
  • The nominee should hold or have held a full professorial position, or equivalent, at a major US research university
  • The nominee should have contributed to academic and/or industrial development in Ireland

Industry Medal Specific Criteria

  • The nominee should be an inspirational business leader operating/have operated in a science, technology, engineering or maths (STEM) related business sector
  • The nominee should hold or have held a senior executive position in industry
  • The nominee should have contributed to academic and/or industrial development in Ireland
*Self-nominations are not accepted
**Irish citizens, persons of Irish descent, persons entitled to Irish citizenship or persons with a strong historical and enduring connection to Ireland

A selection committee made up of high-ranking individuals, external to Science Foundation Ireland, drawn from academia, industry and Government bodies, will be assembled for the academic and industry SFI St Patrick’s Day Medals

Each eligible nomination will be reviewed by the selection committee based upon the following criteria:

1.     Scientific and Technical Excellence - Scientific and Technical Excellence as demonstrated through leadership in their field of endeavour, research impact (please refer to the SFI Impact Statement) and measurable outputs such as citations and commercial outputs. Industry candidates should also reach the same levels of esteem both in their field of speciality and their industry accomplishments.

2.     Global Recognition - Evidence of recognition of excellence at an international level as demonstrated through achievement of international awards, honours and membership of prestigious societies. Industry leadership and business success particularly in the case of Industry candidates.

3.     Engagement with Ireland - Evidence of the nominees’ commitment to the support of the research and/or industry community in Ireland and to Ireland's wider economic development as evidenced through ongoing and meaningful collaboration, mentorship of Irish researchers/companies, national policy dialogue participation, representation of Irish research at an international level.

The Selection Committee will review and evaluate the merit of all eligible nominees and recommend the final selections to the SFI Executive Committee.

Both Medals will be awarded by the Taoiseach* during the official St Patrick’s Day Programme in the United States in March 2024.**

*Subject to final programme arrangements by the Department of the Taoiseach
 

 

Year

 

Academic Medal Recipient

 

Industry Medal Recipient

2023

Prof Paul K Whelton, Tulane University

Mr Paul Daugherty, Group Chief Executive - Technology and CTO, Accenture

2022

Prof Donald McDonnell, Duke University

Patrick and John Collison, Stripe Founders

2021

Prof William C Campbell, Drew University

Mr Vincent T Roche, President and CEO, Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI)

2020

Prof Neville Hogan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Dr Ann Kelleher, Technology Development Lead, Intel Corporation

2019

Prof Eamon Quigley, Houston Methodist Hospital

Mr Mike Mahoney, CEO Boston Scientific

2018

Prof Margaret Murnane, University of Colorado at Boulder

Mr David McCourt, Founder and CEO, Granahan McCourt Capital

2017

Prof Adrian Raftery, University of Washington

Dr T. Pearse Lyons, Founder and President of Alltech

2016

Prof Séamus Davis, ex Cornell University (UCC)

Dr Craig Barrett, ex Intel

2015

Prof Katherine Fitzgerald, University of Massachusetts

 

2014

Dr Garret FitzGerald, University of Pennsylvania