The Willy Aspinall Prize
The Willy Aspinall Prize may be made annually to the lead author of an outstanding paper on applied volcanology or geoheritage published in English, who is within three years of their being awarded a PhD at a university in the UK. The Prize is named in honour of Prof. Willy Aspinall who is a distinguished professor at the University of Bristol and a hazard and risk science consultant. The award will take the form of a cash prize (£400), a certificate, and a contribution towards attendance at an annual meeting of the Volcanic and Magmatic Studies Group (VMSG), where the winner will be invited to present their paper.
Please see the Award Guidelines for eligibility criteria and full information.
Nomination is by the identification of one research publication, accompanied by a nomination form that will be assessed in the following areas:
- Novelty (33%) – is the motivation and approach innovative and progressive, and does nominee’s contribution shine through?
- Quality (33%) – does the research demonstrate robust and ethical data collection, thoughtful interpretation, and high quality, accessible presentation (e.g., figures)?
- Practical applicability in volcanology (33%) – to what extent does the research have practical application in applied volcanology?
Nominations should be made using the Willy Aspinall Prize Nomination Form and should be sent to the VMSG Awards Officer (emma.nicholson@ucl.ac.uk) by 4 October 2024. Nominators may be of any career stage, and may include PhD students.
Past winners:
2024: Edna Dualeh
2023: Matthew Head
2021: Ailsa Naismith
2019: Jon Stone
2018: Will Hutchison
