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Judith Howard Lecture Prize
The Howard Lecture is an annual lecture which celebrates world-leading early to mid-career academics working in the biophysical sciences from anywhere in the world. Nominations can be made for researchers working in academia or in industry and we welcome nominations for those with unconventional career paths or with career breaks.
The 2026 Judith Howard Lecture
Dr Kasia Tych (University of Groningen)
1 pm, 2 June, Mountjoy Centre Event Space (2012)
Abstract: Probing Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics using Single-Molecule Methods
Katarzyna (Kasia) Tych, University of Freiburg, Germany and University of Groningen, the Netherlands
Advanced biophysical techniques such as the optical tweezers can uniquely access the structural dynamics of biological macromolecules directly, in real-time.
I will provide an overview of how such experiments can be performed, what kind of information we can obtain from them, and provide some examples including our latest work in characterising molecular chaperones, inter-genic regions in viruses, and transmembrane transport proteins. I will also give an outlook on some of the exciting research directions we are currently pursuing and talk about what would like to work on next.
How to Nominate for the 2027 Prize
We encourage self-nominations for the Judith Howard Prize Lecture, this is the standard method of nomination. Nominations are welcome from all areas of biophysical sciences and anywhere in the world.
If you would like to suggest a nominee please forward the name and institution link of nominees to bsi.manager@durham.ac.uk.
Closing Date: 27 June 2026
Form for self-nomination: https://forms.office.com/e/D5tJVR3nhX
Professor Judith Howard
Professor Judith Howard CBE FRS was one of the original founders of the BSI and was instrumental in establishing the Wolfson Laboratories on the top floor of the Chemistry Department, an interdisciplinary research hub home to many BSI researchers.
Judith joined Durham as a Professor of Crystallography in 1991 and became the first female head of a five-star chemistry department nationally. She has built instruments that allow scientists to apply techniques to prove theories experimentally and advance the field of X-ray crystallography. She developed low-temperature X-ray and neutron diffraction methods to explore electron density distributions, chemical bonding descriptors and magnetic properties in molecules more precisely.
To mark her formal retirement from the University the Howard lecture was established in her name, and celebrates up-and-coming researchers in the biophysical sciences from all over the world.
Past Howard Lectures
The 2024 prize lecture was given by Dr Ioanna Mela (Cambridge) and attracted attendees from across the Faculty of Science. Ioanna gave a whistlestop tour down some of the interesting rabbit holes she has explored during her research into the use of DNA nanotechnology as antimicrobial drug delivery agents.
The talk was followed by the summer research bursary poster session which showcased the wonderful research undertaken by this year's undergraduate bursary students.
Previous Lectures
2024: Dr Ioanna Mela (Cambridge)
2023: Dr Yuval Elani, Imperial College London
2021: Dr Rivka Isaacson, King’s College London
2020: Professor Silvia Marchesan, University of Trieste
2018: Professor Vijay Chudasama, University College London
2017: Dr Susan Cox, Kings College London
2016: Professor Justin Benesch, University of Oxford
2015: Dr Sarah Veatch, University of Michigan, US
2014: Dr Arwen Pearson, Universitat Hamburg
2013: Professor David R. Nelson, Harvard University, US