Chemical Science is delighted to announce a journal Lectureship in our 15th anniversary year in 2025 to recognise and celebrate the significant contributions our authors make to the chemical sciences community and beyond.
The Chemical Science Lectureship celebrates leading, independent researchers at all career stages who have made exceptional discoveries and innovations in their field within the last five years, which have significance for the wider chemical sciences. This can be based on a single article or a body of work during this timeframe.
This annual lectureship will focus on a specific subject area each year that aligns with the next Chemical Science symposium, rotating each year to cover the breadth of the journal and all areas of the chemical sciences. The research field will be determined each year through consultation and discussion with the Chemical Science Editorial Board.
We appreciate how the assessment of research impact and significance can vary between subject areas covered by the journal. By focusing on one topic each year, we can ensure we are selecting candidates by their merit within that field rather than comparing nominations across all areas of the chemical sciences.
The 2025 Chemical Science Lectureship focuses on the chemistry of imaging, biosensing and diagnostics and will be delivered at the 2025 Chemical Science Symposium on 18-19 November in London, UK.
Our latest winner 2025
Professor Christopher Chang, Princeton University
Chris Chang is the Edward and Virginia Taylor Professor of Bioorganic Chemistry at Princeton University. He completed his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Caltech in 1997 with Harry Gray, a Fulbright scholarship with Jean-Pierre Sauvage, a Ph.D. from MIT in 2002 with Dan Nocera, and a postdoc at MIT with Steve Lippard. Chris started his independent career at UC Berkeley in 2004 before moving to Princeton in 2024.
studies the chemistry and biology of the elements. His group has pioneered the concept of activity-based sensing, showing that selectivity in sensor design is achievable by reaction-based methods that go beyond traditional binding-based approaches that operate by lock-and-key molecular recognition.
Christopher's work has also changed dogma in the inorganic and chemical biology communities by showing that transition metals are not merely active site cofactors in proteins but also serve as dynamic transition metal signals that operate as allosteric regulators of protein function through metalloallostery, giving rise to new metal-dependent cell growth and proliferation pathways such as cuproplasia and ferroplasia.
He has mentored nearly 150 graduate, postdoc, and undergraduate researchers, with 46 alumni who are now faculty leading their own laboratories. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief for Accounts of Chemical Research.
Guidelines for nominators and candidates
Find out who is eligible for this award, about the nomination process, and see who is on the selection panel.
Nomination deadline
Closed for 2025
Who can be nominated
The Chemical Science Lectureship will be awarded through a process whereby nominations of candidates are invited from our community.
This Lectureship is open to all researchers throughout the world. This includes but is not limited to, members of the UUÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ of Chemistry and researchers in academia or industry.
We believe we have a responsibility to promote inclusivity and accessibility to improve diversity. Where possible, we encourage each nominator to consider nominating candidates of all genders, races, and backgrounds. Please see our approach to Inclusion and Diversity.
To be eligible for this Lectureship, the candidate must:
- Be an active researcher in the specified field, either in academia or industry, carrying out significant and impactful research
- Be an independent researcher (this includes team leaders in industry and Research Associates or Fellows who run their own research group; PhD students and postdocs are not eligible)
- Have published in Chemical Science within the last 5 years
There is no requirement to have received a PhD within a set period for this Lectureship – candidates will be considered only for their contribution(s) within the last 5 years rather than based on their career stage. Candidates who have taken recent career breaks can still be nominated and will be considered based on a specified 5-year window within the last 10 years.
If you have any questions please get in touch with our Editorial Office using the contact details on this page.
Please note, nominations are currently closed. When nominations are open:
- Nominations can be made by anyone and must be sent via email to the Editorial Office.
- Self-nominations are not permitted
- All nominators will be asked to confirm that, to the best of their knowledge, their nominee’s professional standing is such that there is no confirmed or potential impediment to them receiving the Lectureship
To nominate a candidate, please provide:
- The name, affiliation, website URL and contact details of the nominee
- An up-to-date nominee CV (3 page maximum)
- A letter of recommendation, detailing the significance of the candidates’ contribution(s) within the last 5 years (500-word limit)
- A supporting letter of recommendation from an independent referee. For example, this could be the nominee’s post doc or PhD supervisor. Referees are asked to state their relationship to the nominee
All eligible nominated candidates will be assessed by a judging panel made up of the Chemical Science Editor-in-Chief, the Executive Editor and a rotating group of up to five Editorial Board members. Any Editorial Board members who have a conflict of interest will be removed and/or replaced from the selection panel.
Consideration will be given to all information provided in the letters of recommendation and the candidate’s CV. The judging panel will consider the following core criteria for the candidates’ contributions within the last 5 years:
- excellence in research, as evidenced with reference to originality and impact
- quality of publications/patents/software
- innovation
- collaborations and teamwork
- community and advocacy activities
Additional indicators of esteem will be considered by the judging panel where multiple nominees are judged equally meritorious in relation to these core criteria.