Four Oxford University researchers have been selected from over 350 nominations to receive one of the 2025 Philip Leverhulme Prizes. These awards recognise and celebrate the achievements of outstanding researchers whose work has already attracted international recognition and whose future careers are exceptionally promising.
The Philip Leverhulme Prizes commemorate the contribution to the work of the Leverhulme Trust made by Philip, Third Viscount Leverhulme and grandson of William Lever, the founder of the Trust. This year, the Leverhulme Trust awarded five prizes in each of the following subject areas: Archaeology, Chemistry, Economics, Engineering, Geography, and Languages and Literatures.
Each prize winner will receive £100,000 to be used for any purpose that advances their research.
About the Oxford winners:
Associate Professor Emilio Martínez-Pañeda (Department of Engineering Science). Awarded an Engineering prize for his work on material mechanics.
I am delighted to be awarded the Philip Leverhulme Prize and very much appreciate the generosity and flexible support of the Leverhulme Trust. I am very grateful to the jury for recognising the key role that mechanics can play in unravelling fundamental scientific challenges that are holding back the energy transition.
Associate Professor Emilio Martínez-Pañeda , Department of Engineering Science.
Dr Martínez-Pañeda's research focuses on developing mechanistic models to describe how materials deform and fracture. A particular interest is in addressing fundamental scientific challenges that currently hinder the transition to a net-zero carbon society. Examples include understanding metal-hydrogen interactions to develop safe hydrogen energy infrastructure; modelling corrosion in wind turbines to inform approaches to extend their serviceable life; and designing new microstructures to enhance lithium-ion battery durability and performance.
He intends to use the Leverhulme Prize to develop advanced mechanistic models to predict material degradation in solid-state batteries, particularly at interfaces, where electrochemical, mechanical, and chemical processes interact. This critical knowledge gap is currently holding back the wider deployment of next-generation batteries, but greater understanding could accelerate the discovery of engineering solutions.
Associate Professor Meera Mehta (Department of Chemistry). Awarded a Chemistry prize for her work on the fundamental chemistry of earth-abundant non-toxic elements and their application in synthetic and materials science.
Besides providing financial support to initiate a very ambitious project, this prize celebrates and recognises all the hard work of my research team. It allows me to be part of the elite Philip Leverhulme Prize winners community, and engage with academics beyond science.
Associate Professor Meera Mehta , Department of Chemistry.
Dr Mehta's research spans a broad range across fundamental chemical science, including the synthesis of molecules and catalysis. A particular interest is nitrogen chain structures. Under ambient conditions, these structures are highly reactive, meaning that they can typically only be studied under extreme conditions, for example at ultrahigh pressures or ultracold temperatures. However, preliminary work from Professor Mehta's lab indicates that it is possible to synthesise stable units with four nitrogen atoms, under ambient conditions. She intends to use the Leverhulme Prize to develop this work, and explore how adjusting the organic groups of these nitrogen-containing units influences the molecules' electronic structure and, in turn, their chemical behaviour.
Associate Professor Ludvig Sinander (Department of Economics). Awarded an Economics prize for his work on economic theory.
This prize recognises joint work with my brilliant co-authors. I am grateful to them, my teachers and my family, and to the Trust for continuing to invest in UK scholarship.
Associate Professor Ludvig Sinander , Department of Economics.
Dr Sinander specializes in economic theory, across a broad range of topics. His work mostly focuses on how to design systems that motivate people to act in desired ways (known as incentive or mechanism design) and on developing the basic mathematical tools behind economic theory. He has also studied strategic issues in voting, how decisions play out over time in repeated situations (dynamic game theory), and contributed to wider fields including communication, discrimination, and decision-making.
He intends to use the Leverhulme Prize to explore several topics. One is how individuals' willingness to take risks is shaped by economic factors such as bankruptcy law and compensation contracts. Others include how misperceptions shape discrimination in the labour market, and the design of unemployment insurance schemes.
Professor Noa Zilberman (Department of Engineering Science). Awarded an Engineering prize for her work on computing infrastructure.
This prize is a powerful testament to the great work of my research group and talented collaborators, and will provide crucial support for tackling the immense sustainability and resilience challenges facing our global digital infrastructure.
Professor Noa Zilberman , Department of Engineering Science.
The focus of Professor Zilberman's research is building scalable, sustainable, and resilient computing infrastructure. Currently, she is exploring three key areas: building scalable AI systems at 1/1000 the cost and power; developing novel sustainable computing solutions; and embedding machine learning models directly into network devices.
Using the Leverhulme Prize, she intends to address current global challenges of critical communications infrastructure, particularly regarding resiliency and sustainability. Her approach will include bold, high-risk ideas that could revolutionise the design of AI systems. One approach is to use light to connect processors through glass, which could enable hundreds or even thousands of AI accelerators to be linked inside a single machine.
You can learn more about the 2025 Prizes on the Leverhulme Trust website .
