The Dutch Polymer Institute (DPI) has awarded its prestigious 2024 Golden Thesis Award to dr. Maximiliaan (Max) Werny for his outstanding doctoral research. Werny’s PhD thesis, titled “Probing the Morphology, Composition and Temperature of Olefin Polymerization Catalyst Particles with Microscopy and Spectroscopy”, was completed at the University of Utrecht under the guidance of prof. dr. Bert Weckhuysen and dr. Florian Meirer.
The annual Golden Thesis Award recognizes the most exceptional PhD thesis resulting from DPI-funded research. Selected from seven nominations out of twenty submitted theses, Werny was chosen from three finalists. His fellow nominees included Vincenzo Ianniello from the University of Naples and Peihao Song from the University of Oxford, who researched.
The award was formally presented during the DPI Annual Meeting 2024 in Eindhoven on November 19. A distinguished Award Committee, consisting of Rein Borgreve (CTO of DPI), prof. Bernhard Rieger from the Technical University of Munich, and prof. Costantino Creto from ESPCI Paris, evaluated the candidates. Their rigorous assessment considered four key criteria: scientific quality and originality, relevance and societal impact, presentation skills, and alignment with DPI research programs.
The full news item of this event can be read here.