Scientists from Bangor University win prestigious prize.

A research project, financed by the European Union under the FrameWork7 programme, which involved scientists from Bangor University, has won a prestigious prize.

The ProMine consortium, which included scientists from the School of Biological Sciences (Professor Barrie Johnson, and Drs. Barry Grail, Sabrina Hedrich and Catherine Kay) was funded to generate new products from mineral resources and waste materials found within Europe. As part of this, the Bangor team developed new approaches for recovering metals and synthesizing minerals from waste waters, using novel species of microorganisms.

The success of the ProMine consortium in meeting these objectives led to the project being awarded the top award of all EU Framework projects in the field of industrial technologies, at the Industrial Technologies 2014 Conference in Athens. The judges were from a European Advisory Group, consisting of distinguished experts representing policy, industry and research organizations in the field of Industrial Technologies.

Drs. Juha Kaja and Pekka Nurmi of the Finnish Geological Survey (who coordinated the project) collected the award (a large, almost life-size, statue of the head of a Cycladic goddess found on the island of Amorgos and dated to 2800-2300 B.C.) on behalf of the ProMine consortium.

About the award, Professor Barrie Johnson said: “It is very rewarding to see the dedicated and successful research carried out by Bangor scientists and our colleagues in Europe being recognized in such a high profile way. The EU Framework programme spanned 30 years, and ProMine getting the top prize in its category is excellent news”

ProMine was a four-year project (2009-2013) that involved 31 partner organisations from 11 European countries, and had a budget of €18 million.

Publication date: 15 May 2014