The Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Societies (FACSS) has announced that Professor Roy Goodacre from the University of Liverpool is the 2021 Charles Mann Award recipient. Roy is Professor of Biological Chemistry in the Department of Biochemistry and Systems Biology within the Institute of Systems, Molecular and Integrative Biology (ISMIB) at the University of Liverpool. He is the Chair of the Institute’s Research and Impact Committee, Deputy Head of Department, and a co-director of the Centre for Metabolomics Research. A long-term UV Raman spectrometer failure led to a change of direction in Roy’s Raman research and in 2004 his group showed for the first time that surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) could be developed for robust bacterial identification.
Roy is a Founder and currently a Director of the Metabolomics Society (2005–2015; 2020–2022) and a Director of the Metabolic Profiling Forum. Finally, he is a committee member of Royal Society of Chemistry’s Analytical Division Council (ADC) and is a Trustee of the Analytical Chemistry Trust Fund.
“We are pleased to recognise Professor Goodacre for his scientific, leadership and mentoring achievements”, said Ian Lewis, Charles Mann Award Committee Chair. “We recognise his contributions to Raman in metabolomics and his pioneering work in the use of advanced data analysis approaches to Raman spectral data. Roy is also a strong contributor to the SciX conference as a programme contributor, session chair, leadership in the planning of Spring SciX, and support and encouragement for early career scientists and students. His work in the field of applying mass spectroscopy and data analysis to metabolomics, while outside the criteria for the Raman award, is also worthy of recognition as it fits within the scope and aims of the SciX conference and the FACSS member organisations.”
The Charles Mann Award for Applied Raman Spectroscopy was instituted by FACSS in 2002 following the untimely death of Professor Charles (Charlie) Mann. Professor Mann was a well-known and long-standing member of the faculty of Florida State University (FSU). Professor Mann and his faculty colleague, Professor Tom Vickers, contributed significantly to the development of analytical Raman spectroscopy via publications, participation at numerous meetings, including the annual FACSS meeting, and participation in the ASTM sub-committee on Raman spectroscopy E13.08. Professor Mann’s research areas covered from the fundamental including data analysis (chemometrics and databases), quantitative Raman and instrumental understanding to the applied applications such as polymers and inorganics.
