Pioneering UK/USA Breakthrough Award: Oxford winners

During early March 2026 The UKRI and UK Ambassador to the USA presented the Pioneering UK-US Breakthrough (PUB) Awards at the British Embassy in Washington DC, hosted by UKRI North America.

These awards were made to seven collaborative teams, in recognition of their resulting outstanding global impacts.

Professor David Armstrong and Professor Chris Grovenor won the 'Training the Next Generation of Nuclear Scientists' PUB award, for their consistent and ongoing work, which began in 2015, with Professor Peter Hosemann (Berkeley) and Dr Brendan Heidrick (Idaho National Laboratory).  These series of collaborations have advanced nuclear materials research and training using the EPSRC-Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP), which led to the first University-led UK/USA neutron irradiation campaign in a generation, and developed innovative methods for microscale mechanical testing of SiC-SiC composites. 

The global impact is significant: this work has accelerated the development of cleaner energy technologies and more efficient jet engines, and safer and more durable reactor components.  The associated benefit is that it boosts high-value manufacturing, enhances energy security, and contributes to global efforts to deploy low-carbon power.