The 2020 EuChemS Award for Service will be awarded to Professor Antonio Laganà and Dr. Jan Mehlich in recognition of their outstanding commitment and hard work in fostering chemistry in Europe, along with the activities and goals of EuChemS.

The award will be presented to them at the 8th EuChemS Chemistry Congress 2022 in Lisbon, Portugal.

Meet the awardees

Antonio Laganà is a retired Professor from the University of Perugia, Italy. He is also a former member of the EuChemS Executive Board and served two terms as the chair of the EuChemS Division of Computational and Theoretical Chemistry. He has been a representative of the University of Perugia at the European Chemistry Thematic Network (ECTN) for more than 20 years, and has been member of the Administrative council, and subsequently Vice-president and President of the related association (2003-2009).

Professor Laganà has contributed to the chemistry community in Europe and beyond with both his scientific achievements and services to the community. Author of 400 papers and 15 books, he also served on the editorial board of journals and organised several scientific conferences. He was the driving force behind the COMPCHEM Virtual Organization which allowed the participation of the computational chemistry community in major European projects, like the EGEE III and EGI-Inspire managed by CERN and EGI. In addition, he is the founding editor of the online scientific magazine VIRT&L-COMM which offers “a forum for work carried out by Virtual Innovation, Research, Teaching & Learning Communities”.

He has played an important role in the success of the Erasmus Mundus Master TCCM (Theoretical Chemistry and Computational Modelling) programme as it provides training for computational chemists at an international level.

Jan Mehlich is a science and technology ethicist with an educational background in Chemistry. His academic interest is in value co-creation processes and the role of scientists, engineers, designers and other innovators in the discourse on sustainable scientific and technological progress. He is also a member of the EuChemS Working Party on Ethics in Chemistry.

He has developed an on-line course, Good Chemistry-Methodological, Ethical, and Social Implications, worth 2 ECTS Credits and now available on the EuChemS Moodle platform. All the content has been developed by him, with help from the EuChemS Division of Chemical Education.

This e-course aims to contribute to an integral education on good and ethical chemistry practices for students, as they are important future enactors of progress and influential decision-makers in academia, industry, and society. Its content relates to science conduct, logic and theory of science, experimentation, professional and public communication of science, risk and uncertainty, sustainability, and social impact of chemical activity. Around 400 students registered for this free online course, thus contributing to the dissemination of ethical chemistry conduct, the increasing impact of EuChemS’ activities and the enhancement of chemistry and EuChemS’ profile.