Early career researcher dedicates awards honour to colleagues.
26 Feb 2026
Professor Radha Boya named finalist in Blavatnik Awards, which celebrate outstanding early career research achievements.
Professor Radha Boya has been named a finalist in the 2026 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK, which highlight exceptional early career researchers making significant contributions to their fields.
As a Finalist in the Physical Sciences & Engineering category, Radha receives a £30,000 prize, placing her among a select group chosen from 91 nominations across 46 institutions. This recognition reflects the strength and impact of her research and the contribution it makes to the University’s scientific profile.
Radha, from the Department of Physics and Astronomy and National Graphene Institute, said: “I am hugely honoured and humbled to be a Blavatnik honouree. I am grateful to my mentors, collaborators and dedicate this recognition to my past and present research group members.”
She was recognised for her pioneering work on ångströmscale capillaries – ultra thin channels made from layered materials such as graphene. These structures create spaces only a few atoms wide, allowing researchers to study how water, ions and molecules behave under extreme confinement.
Her discoveries enable advances in molecular filtration, brain inspired (neuromorphic) computing, nanofluidic sensing, and ionic memory devices, opening pathways to future technologies built on the behaviour of matter at the atomic scale.
Radha further explained: “At the ångström scale confinement, where water, ions, and molecules behave in entirely new ways, we glimpse the hidden physics and chemistry to design selectivity rules for molecular and ion separation and build ionic memory devices.”
The awards ceremony took place at London’s Banqueting House, followed by a symposium for Laureates and Finalists at the Royal Society of Medicine.
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