IUCr Poster Prizes at BCA BACG 2021

The IUCr Poster Prizes at BCA BACG 2021 recognised any branch of crystallography or crystal growth, or indeed across more than one branch. They were awarded to two posters by PhD students and which were of equal high merit: Lee Birchall’s was entitled “Design, synthesis and investigation of a series of isostructural spin-crossover co-crystal solvates using crystal engineering concepts” and Thomas Hitchings’ was entitled “LnOHCO₃ Magnetocaloric Frameworks: A Potential Sustainable Replacement for Liquid Helium Vapour Compression”. Both presenters were, by coincidence, from the School of Physical Sciences of the University of Kent, UK, but with different supervisors, respectively Helena Shepherd and Paul Saines.

Figures from the posters showing (a) structure of the [Fe(3-bpp)₂]²⁺ complex (Birchall) and (b) short-range magnetic order (Hitchings).

This year’s annual conference was a joint meeting of the British Crystallographic Association and the British Association for Crystal Growth; from memory, over the past 40 years, there have been three such joint annual meetings.

The judges for this Poster Prize were Petra Bombicz and John Helliwell. The winners each received a certificate, a copy of A Little Dictionary of Crystallography and a three-year student membership of the IUCr Associates Programme.