Professor Richard G. Compton holds the position of Aldrichian Praelector at Oxford University (UK) and is Tutor in Chemistry at St. John's College. Compton has published almost 1100 papers in the fields of electro-chemical and electro-analytical science and has an h-index of 67.

He is the Founding Editor and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Electrochemistry Communications (IF = 4.859) and co-author of several books including 'Understanding Voltammetry' and the historical biography 'A G Stromberg - First Class Scientist, Second Class Citizen: Letters from the GULAG and a History of Electroanalysis in the USSR'.

He is Chinese Academy of Science Visiting Professor at the Institute of Physical Sciences, Hefei and holds Honorary Doctorates from Kharkov National University (Ukraine) and the Estonian Agricultural University and is a Lifelong Honorary Professor of Sichuan University (Chengdu, PRC).

Professor Jiří Barek, PhD, FRSC, CChem, EurChem, is currently in head of UNESCO Laboratory of Environmental Electrochemistry at Charles University, Prague. He is author and co-author of more than 370 publications (h-index 24), co-editor of 4 monographs on the destruction of chemical carcinogens, author and co-author of 12 chapters in monographs devoted to instrumental analytical methods, 3 university teaching texts.

Member of Editorial Board of Chemické Listy, Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry and International Journal of Electrochemical Science; Member of the Working Group on the Destruction of Chemical Carcinogens of the International Agency for Research on Cancer; Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC-UK); member of the Executive Committee of Czech Chemical Society; President of the Division of Analytical Chemistry of the Czech Chemical Society. Member of the Steering Committee of the Division of Analytical Chemistry of the European Association for Chemical and Molecular Science (EuCheMS) .

The main research interests are polarographic and voltammetric determination of trace amounts of biologically active organic substances of environmental importance, i.e. chemical carcinogens, pesticides, dyes and dye-industry intermediates, etc.; high-performance liquid chromatography of the above mentioned substances with polarographic and voltammetric detection.

Young researcher SPE 2012 Prize

Dr. Aleksey Yaremchenko is currently an assistant researcher at the Department of Materials and Ceramic Engineering / CICECO (Centre for Research in Ceramics and Composite Materials), University of Aveiro. He is co-authoring more than 100 papers in SCI journals (h-index 30) in the area of solid state ionics and materials for energy-conversion technologies. Dr. Yaremchenko was born in 1977 in Mogilev, Belarus. He had obtained PhD degree in Physical Chemistry at the Belarus State University in 2002, and in the same year moved to Aveiro. His area of specialization relates to Material Science, Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry. His particular interests include the development of advanced materials for high-temperature energy conversion processes and electrochemical devices, including solid oxide fuel cells, steam electrolyzers, and mixed-conducting ceramic membranes for gas separation and electrocatalytic reactors.

Dr António F. da Cunha is currently Assistant Professor at the department of Physics, University of Aveiro, Portugal. He has graduated in Applied Physics from the University of Porto, Portugal, in 1990. He has obtained his PhD in Physics, in 1995, from the University of Essex, England, having worked on the physics of low dimensional semiconductor structures based on the GaAs/AlGaAs material system. Since joining the University of Aveiro, in the fall of 1995, he has strived to set up a laboratory to conduct research on Thin Film Photovoltaics. The initial work focused on the development of CuIn1-xGaxSe2 based solar cells. Fully functional solar cells have been prepared in his laboratory with efficiency up to 8%. In 2003 he spent his sabbatical leave in the physics department of ETH, Zurich, Switzerland, as a visiting scientist, conducting research on CuIn1-xGaxSe2 based solar cells having been able to prepare cells with 14% efficiency. In the past 4 years his work has shifted to the development of Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 thin films as an In-free alternative to CuIn1-xGaxSe2. In parallel with the above mentioned main line of research his group has also worked on the development of dye sensitized solar cells having achieved 9.6% cell efficiency based on commercially available materials. This latter structure has served as a model against which new dyes, produced in the framework of several collaboration projects, have been tested.

SPE 2012 Prize

Victor M.M. Lobo was born in Coimbra, Portugal, in 1940. In 1956 he got a scholarship to one year in the U.S.A. to attend B.U. High School, Oregon, and graduated in 1957. Graduated in Physics and Chemistry from the University of Coimbra in 1963 with Honours, joined staff of the University of Coimbra in 1963, and in 1966 went to Cambridge where he got a Ph.D. "Associate" Professor of Electrochemistry in 1975 and Full Professor in 1981. In 1975 published Vol. I of a work entitled "Electrolyte Solutions: Literature Data on Thermodynamic and Transport Properties", in 1984 Vol. II of the same work. In 1989 published, with R. Mills, a book entitled "Self-diffusion in electrolyte solutions. A critical examination of data compiled from the literature". In 1990 published a work in two volumes entitled "Handbook of Electrolyte Solutions". In 1977 stayed for two months at Gottingen, Germany. In 1983 was elected Associate Member of the Electrochemistry Commission of IUPAC and in 1985 was promoted to Titular Member. In 1989 was re-elected as Titular Member. In 1980-81 had a one year sabbatical leave at the Australian National University, Canberra. For one year was a Visiting Professor at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, England, in 1988-89. Received the Gold Medal at the "15th International Exhibition of Inventions and New Techniques", Geneve, for the cell developed for measurements of diffusion coefficients. Belongs to the Editorial Board of some scientific journals; he is, or has been, President of the Portuguese Electrochemical Society, member of the Portuguese National Council for Education, President of the General Assembly of the Portuguese Chemical Society, etc.

SPE 2012 Prize

J. S. Redinha received is Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry in 1958 from the University of London (Imperial College). He is now retired professor of physical chemistry of the Univeridade e Coimbra, Portugal.
He began his research career by the thermodynamics study of solid/solution interfacial phenomena. A second period of his scientific activity was dominated by the investigation of the solution processes with the aim of developing methods to interpret the thermodynamic properties in molecular terms. These properties were obtained from density, viscosity and calorimetric measurements.
After 1980s his research was focused into two main areas: study of the solid state structure of compounds with pharmaceutical interest and the hydration structure of polyfunctional compounds. Various methods have been used in these studies including differential scanning calorymetry, thermal microscopy, infrared spectroscopy, solution calorimetry, X-ray diffraction and computational calculations.
He is the author of over one hundred original scientific papers and many articles of pedagogical interest, as well as articles published in books to provide the scientific information with regards to subjects related with his scientific field. .