Entries are being sought for the Fifth Society of Glass Technology Alastair Pilkington Award.

The award is designed to encourage and recognise excellent work in glass research or innovation achieved by someone who has come relatively recently into the field of glass.

This Award is not restricted to hard science or engineering – it spans all dimensions of glass technology, creativity and research; glass art as well as glass science, conservation and museum studies as well as engineering.

The winning candidate will receive €1500 and support in attending the ESG Conference, in 2020 this will be in Krakow, Poland.

The winner also receives a smaller replica of the iconic glass sculpture, which is the focus in the Award Ceremony.

Last year’s winner was Dr Morten Smedskjaer of Aalborg University (pictured). His submission for the Pilkington Award related to pressure induced changes in interdiffusivity and compressive stress in chemically strengthened glass.

The Society of Glass Technology and the Mushroom Trust, a fund set up by Sir Alastair’s family, fund the Award.

In spite of his surname Alastair Pilkington was not related to the famous glassmaking family.

It was his dedication to the industry, including being the inventor of the Float Process– hailed as the premier glassmaking invention of the twentieth century.

Sir Alastair changed the way the world thinks about windows, so this Award is designed to provide a fitting memorial.