Mike Lynch Award 2025: Val Gillet

From the Chemical Structure Association Trust : https://csa-trust.org/2024/07/31/csa-trust-2025-mike-lynch-award-call-for-nominations/
“In recognition of her pioneering research in chemical structure analysis, visionary educational leadership, and enduring dedication to advancing scientific collaboration, Professor Val Gillet has been awarded the 2025 Mike Lynch Award by the Trustees of the CSA Trust.

The Trustees are proud to honor Professor Gillet for her outstanding and innovative contributions to the field of Chemoinformatics. Her influential body of work – widely cited and highly regarded – has shaped the Chemoinformatics landscape and driven progress in pharmaceutical research and development.

In parallel with her research achievements, Professor Gillet has played a central role in building and refining the Chemoinformatics educational program at the University of Sheffield. Under her supervision, the program has earned international recognition as a hub of excellence for research and training. She is also co-author of a foundational textbook that remains a key reference in the field.

Beyond her academic accomplishments, Professor Gillet has been instrumental in fostering collaboration and visibility within Chemoinformatics. Her longstanding support of the Cheminformatics Conference in Sheffield and the International Conference on Chemical Structures in Noordwijkerhout has helped elevate them to the field’s most prominent international gatherings.

Val Gillet is a Professor of Chemoinformatics at the University of Sheffield, where she leads the Chemoinformatics Research Group within School of Information, Journalism and Communication.”

https://www.linkedin.com/in/val-gillet-15a60429

https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/ijc/people/val-gillet

Dr Gillet will be giving a keynote lecture om Sunday the 1st (abstract below).

A Chemoinformatics Journey: An Evolution of Methods

Val Gillet 

University of Sheffield, The Wave, 2 Whitham Road, Sheffield, S10 2AH, UK

As a proud recipient of the Mike Lynch Award, I’ll start with a brief tribute to Mike, who was a pioneer of chemoinformatics and laid the foundations for Sheffield’s strong contribution to the field. Crucially for me, he was my PhD supervisor, and his inspiration guided me to a career in chemoinformatics. I will then discuss my contributions to some enduring research themes, including chemical representation, de novo design, and applications of evolutionary methods, and will highlight their development from my PhD and early post-doc work to current research.

Previous Recipients

  • 2022 – Dr. Greg Landrum
  • 2018 – Dr. Rudy Potenzone
  • 2014 – The InChi Team (Steve Heller, Alan McNaught, Igor Pletnev, Steve Stein and Dmitrii Tchekhovskoi)
  • 2011 – Dr. Engelbert Zass, ETH Zurich
  • 2008 – Prof. Alexander Lawson, Elsevier Information Systems GmbH
  • 2005 – Prof. Johnny Gasteiger, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg
  • 2002 – Prof. Peter Willett, University of Sheffield

About the CSA Trust Mike Lynch Award

The CSA Trust is an internationally recognized, registered charity that promotes education, research, and development in fields related to chemical structures and cheminformatics.

The CSA Trust is an internationally recognized, registered charity that promotes education, research, and development in fields related to chemical structures and cheminformatics.The Chemical Structure Association Trust is calling for nominations for the 2025 Mike Lynch Award.

The Mike Lynch Award recognizes and encourages outstanding accomplishments in education, research, and development activities that are related to the systems and methods used to store, process, and retrieve information about chemical structures, reactions, and properties. The awardee will receive an honorarium and memento and will be invited to make a presentation at the 13th International Conference on Chemical Structures.

To nominate an individual, please submit (a) a summary of the nominee’s accomplishments and the specific relevant work that is to be recognized (maximum one page); (b) a brief biographical sketch, including a statement of academic qualifications and contact information; and (c) at least one seconding letter that supports the nomination and provides additional factual information with regard to the scientific achievements of the nominee. If appropriate, a list of the nominee’s publications and/or patents may also be submitted. The Award will not be given in any year in which the nominees do not meet the award criteria. Work that has not previously been recognized by other awards will usually be given particular consideration.

Please email these documents to the Secretary of the CSA Trust at chescot@aol.com by September 30, 2024.

Traditionally the award is presented on the opening night of the ICCS.