Postgraduate awards

Each year we recognise the outstanding breadth of research conducted within the Department. Typically, three prizes are awarded for exceptional contributions in computational, experimental, and theoretical physics.

Each prize includes a £500 award, funded by the Head of Department, and you have the opportunity to present your award-winning work at the annual postgraduate student conference at the end of Michaelmas term.

There is also the Abdus Salam Prize for Postgraduate Student Research, which is presented annually to a PhD student in recognition of outstanding research. Generously funded by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association UK, it is awarded based on a peer-reviewed paper showcasing work you have undertaken at the Cavendish.

Further information is available from the 

Prize Winners over the years

Prizewinners 2024-25

Abdus Salam Prize

Emmanuel Gottlob (Hubbard Models for Quasicrystalline Potentials’) – Physical Review Journals 

Cavendish Prize in Experimental Physics

Camilla Tacconis (Role of Fe Impurity Reactions in the Electrochemical Properties of MgFeB2O5’) – Chemistry of Materials

Cavendish Prize in Theoretical Physics

Pratyush Ghosh (‘Decoupling excitons from high-frequency vibrations in organic molecules’) – Nature

Read more about the 2024-25 winners and their research projects. 

Prizewinners 2023-24

Abdus Salam Prize

Lena Dogra (Atomic, Mesoscopic and Optical Physics) –  Nature

Cavendish Prize in Experimental Physics

Sebastian Gorgon (Optoelectronics) –  Nature

Cavendish Prize in Theoretical Physics

Thomas Gessey-Jones (Astrophysics) – Oxford Academic (oup.com)

Read more about the 2023-24 winners and their research projects.

Prizewinners 2022-23

Abdus Salam Prize in Computational Physics

Siyu Chen (TCM Group) – Physical Review B

Cavendish Prize in Experimental Physics

Arjun Ashoka (OE) – Nature Communications

Cavendish Prize in Experimental Physics

Rakesh Arul (NP) – Light:Science and Applications

Cavendish Prize in Theoretical Physics

Jonathan Nilsson Hallén (TCM) – Preprint

Prizewinners 2021-22

Abdus Salam Prize in Theoretical Physics

William Barker (AP) – Physical Review D

Cavendish Prize in Experimental Physics

Alice Merryweather (OE) – Nature

Cavendish Prize in Computational Physics

Bo Peng (TCM) – Science Advances

Prizewinners 2020-21

Abdus Salam Prize in Experimental Physics

Sascha Feldmann (OE) – Nature Photonics

Cavendish Prize in Theoretical Physics

Clara Wanjura (TCM) – Nature Communications

Cavendish Prize in Computational Physics

Antonios Alvertis (OE) – Physical Review B

Prizewinners 2019-20

Abdus Salam Prize in Theoretical Physics

Andrea Pizzi (TCM) – Physical Review Letters

Cavendish Prize in Experimental Physics

Raj Pandya (OE) – ACS Nano

Cavendish Prize in Computational Physics

Herschel Chawdhry (HEP) – Physical Review D

Prizewinners Abdus Salam Prize 2008-2019

2018-19 Christoph Eigen
2017-18 Dedalo Sanz Hernandez
2016-17 Felix Benz
Kerstin Gopfrich
2015-16 David Sutherland
2014-15 Carsten Schulte
2013-14 Alexander Gaunt
2012-13 Stuart Moulder
2011-12 Naaman Tammuz
2010-11 Lars Boyde
2009-10 Stefan Palzer
Petra Vertes
2009-10 Gareth Conduit
2008-09 Tuomas Knowles