Imperial congratulates staff recognised in the New Year Honours list

Three leading Imperial researchers have been recognised in the New Year Honours list.

Professor Jo Haigh, Head of the Department of Physics, was awarded a CBE for her services to physics. OBEs were awarded to Professor Susan Gibson (Chemistry) for services to chemistry and science education and to Professor David Hand, Professor of the Statistics Section and Associate Head (Research) in the Department of Mathematics, for services to research and innovation.

Professor Jo Haigh

Professor Haigh joined Imperial in 1984 and has published widely in the area of radiative transfer in the atmosphere, climate modelling, radiative forcing of climate change and the influence of solar irradiance variability on climate.

She is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and of the Royal Meteorological Society and in 2004 received the Institute of Physics Charles Chree Medal and Prize for her work on solar influences on climate. More recently she won the Royal Meteorological Society Adrian Gill Prize in 2011, for significant contributions to the interface between atmospheric science and solar physics.

Upon discovering that she had been awarded a CBE, Professor Haigh said: “I am delighted to be given this honour. It was a complete surprise when I came home after a particularly long day at work and found the letter - I still have no idea who nominated me!”

She added: “In receiving the award I am happy to acknowledge the great teams of people I have worked with closely over the years - at Imperial, in the Royal Meteorological Society and in atmospheric and environmental science more widely.  I also feel proud to accept it as a member of the minority of female physicists.”

Professor David Hand

Professor Hand joined the College in 1999; his research interests include multivariate statistics, classification methods, pattern detection, the interface between statistics and computing, and the foundations of statistics. He also works on the application of statistics to medicine, psychology, and finance and has wide-ranging consultancy experience to organisations ranging from banks, through pharmaceutical companies, to governments.

Professor Hand also heads up Imperial’s Consumer Credit Research Group, which won the Contribution to Industry award at the ‘Credit Control and Risk’ Credit Excellence Awards in October last year – the first time that an academic group has been recognised at the awards.

On learning of his OBE, David said: "I am delighted to have been recognised in the New Year Honours. Since it was for 'research and innovation' this Honour is really an indication of the wonderful researchers I have worked with at Imperial College."

Professor Susan Gibson

Professor Gibson first joined Imperial in 1990 as a Lecturer in Chemistry and went on to become Reader of Chemistry in 1995. Susan moved to King’s College London in 1999 before returning to Imperial in 2003 as a Professor in Chemistry. Susan is an expert in synthetic chemistry and catalysis.

Professor Gibson was awarded the Meldola Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 1990 and was the first winner of the Rosalind Franklin Award of the Royal Society in 2003. She also served as President of the Organic Division of the Royal Society of Chemistry from 2007-10.

 Professor Tom Welton, Head of the Department of Chemistry said: "We are delighted that Sue has received this well-deserved Honour. As well as her own research being at the very forefront of chemistry, she has worked tirelessly to ensure that future generations of women scientists have the necessary opportunities available to them to have successful and fulfilling careers in chemistry."