Winner announced for FoNS Research Image Competition 2026

Chenxuan Ji, from the Department of Physics, has been named the People’s Choice Winner of this year’s Faculty of Natural Sciences Research Image Competition.

Chenxuan Ji, from the Department of Physics, has been named the People’s Choice Winner of this year’s Faculty of Natural Sciences Research Image Competition.

Chenxuan Ji was announced as the winner for his image titled 'The eye of the Milky Way'. Chenxuan submitted the following narrative alongside his image: “This image was taken in La Palma Island in the Canary Islands, when the horizon, the Milky Way, and the rising moon (not sun!) formed the shape of an eye. La Palma has one of the best night skies in the world, and therefore is home to world-class telescopes, as can be seen in the lower left along the ridge. 

“While these are some of our best "eyes" towards the universe, one always wonders when gazing at the night sky: "Are there any eyes from a star or planet elsewhere in the universe gazing back at us?"”

The competition is organised by the Faculty of Natural Sciences and celebrates the work of its fantastic staff and students through imagery and stories that invite us into the world of natural sciences. PhD students and research staff were invited to submit an image and an accompanying narrative that effectively engages and communicates their research project to a non-specialist audience. 

“While these are some of our best "eyes" towards the universe, one always wonders when gazing at the night sky: "Are there any eyes from a star or planet elsewhere in the universe gazing back at us?"” Chenxuan Ji Department of Physics

On winning the competition, Chenxuan said: “It is my great honour to be awarded this prize, and I am glad to see so many of you interested in the starry night sky - the curiosity to which has sparked countless discoveries in the past few centuries. There are thousands of discovered exoplanets just within the field of view of this image, and many more yet to be discovered.  

“We used the perfect sky conditions at La Palma and the world-class telescopes there to look into their atmospheres, which help us understand how the solar system and our planet evolved, and potentially answering the ultimate question: is there a second planet in our universe that life could exist?”

The People’s Choice Winner was announced following a public vote at the FoNS Summer Celebration event, held as a celebration of the Faculty in the Queen’s Tower rooms on 2 July 2026.

Check out the other shortlisted images here.