Following the new tradition introduced at the ISN-ESN Biennial Meeting in Paris, ESN is pleased to issue a Call for nomination of candidates for the ESN Bachelard Lectureship Award to be presented at the 23rd ESN Biennial Meeting/7th Conference on Molecular Mechanisms of Regulation in the Nervous System to be held in Milan (Italy) on September 1-4, 2019. This award was aimed at commemorating the outstanding contributions of Prof Herman Bachelard (1929–2006) to neurochemistry and ESN.
Prof Herman Bachelard was born in Melbourne, Australia, and gained his BSc in Chemistry and Microbiology from Melbourne University in 1951. After spending the first 5 years of his career in chemical industry at Sydney and Melbourne, Herman returned back to academia in 1956 to gain MS and PhD degrees in Biochemistry at Monash University. In 1960 he received a CJ Martin Travelling Fellowship which enabled him to come to England for two years. Working at the Institute of Psychiatry, University of London with Professor Henry McIlwain, Herman started his research in brain biochemistry which became the main research focus throughout all his life. On return to Australia Herman took up a lectureship in biochemistry at Monash University, where he stayed until 1965, and then returned back to the UK for a permanent academic post at the Institute of Psychiatry. In 1975 Herman was appointed to the Chair of Biochemistry at the University of Bath, becoming its first Professor of Biochemistry and Head of Biological Sciences (within a year of his arrival!). In 1979 Herman was offered the post of Professor of Biochemistry at St. Thomas’ Hospital Medical School where he moved to develop further his research and in 1991 he became a Research Professor in Residence at Nottingham University. The main research area of Prof Bachelard was brain metabolism and he was a pioneer of NMR applications in studies of bioenergetics. But apart from wide research interests and dedication to science he was also a founder of the Neurochemical Group of the Biochemical Society (UK) in 1967 which developed rapidly as a major force in national and international neurochemistry. Herman was also an important figure in the ISN and a founder member and first Secretary of the ESN organizing its extraordinarily successful inaugural meeting at Bath in 1976. He served as Chief Editor of the Journal of Neurochemistry from 1980-1985, and was Historian of the ISN from 1999 until his death. Prof Bachelard was an incredibly kind and encouraging person for scientists of all generations and with his persistent charm he melted the ice of the cold war and extended scientific boundaries and research collaboration between Western and Eastern European countries, including the former USSR. We believe that the newly introduced Bachelard Lectureship Award will become a long-lasting tradition at future ESN and joint ISN/ESN meetings.
Nominees for the Award should be distinguished scientists who have achieved significant scientific contributions in neurochemistry while working predominantly in European research institutions, and being involved in ESN/ISN activities. Candidates could be of any age and located in any country at the moment of nomination. The Bachelard Award will offer free registration, accommodation and travel to Milan (Italy) to attend the 23rd ESN Biennial Meeting on September 1-4, 2019 where the awardee will present a 45 min lecture.
Nominations can be put forward by any ESN member. Nomination letters should be accompanied by a curriculum vitae and a short description (with literature references) of the research and ESN/ISN activities and accomplishments of the candidate with a brief outline of the nominee’s profile that would be announced at the award presentation.
Nominations should be sent preferably by electronic mail before February 28th 2019 to the Secretary of the ESN, Natalia Nalivaeva (n.n.nalivaeva@leeds.ac.uk).