Welcome Login
Start of main content

IET A F Harvey Research Prize

First awarded in 2011 in remembrance of the engineer Arthur Frank Harvey, this international prize is awarded annually. The prize money which accompanies the award is to be used for the furtherance of scientific research in the fields of medical, microwave, laser or radar engineering, on a rotating basis.

A F Harvey (1910-2006)

Born in South Wales, Arthur Frank Harvey gained a BSc in Electrical Engineering subjects and was also awarded the Page Gold Medal for the best student in the Engineering Department at the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, Cardiff. In 1930 Harvey was awarded a prestigious three year Industrial Bursary from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851. During this time, he worked as an engineering apprentice at the South Wales Power Company and then took up a college apprenticeship with Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Company Ltd, Manchester. After his bursary ended in 1934, he worked as a Technical Assistant at Johnson and Phillips Ltd in Charlton, London, then from 1935-38 he worked at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough.

Harvey was admitted to the degree of D.Phil in April 1940 at Jesus College, University of Oxford. During this time he began work on high-frequency thermionic tubes, later moving to the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge. He continued to work on radar and microwave applications, including the magnetron, during and after the Second World War.

In 1939 Harvey joined the Ministry of Supply as a Scientific Officer, becoming Senior Scientific Officer in 1946 and Principal Scientific Officer in 1950. In 1960 Harvey won the IEEE Microwave Prize for his paper on “Periodic and guiding structures at microwave frequencies". By the 1980s Harvey had moved to work for the Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern. During this period his work included research and development on millimetre wavelengths, ferrite devices, quantum electronics and coherent-light techniques.

Harvey wrote several papers and published two books on microwaves and lasers.

The IET A F Harvey Research Prize

Following Harvey's death, a trust set up during his lifetime together with the residue of his estate were left as a legacy to the IET. The terms of the Trust specified that this money was to be used for the furtherance of scientific research into the fields of medical, microwave, radar or laser engineering. The Board of Trustees of the IET agreed that the available funds would be used to offer an annual research prize in one of these research fields each year, covering them all over a three-year cycle. The first award of the IET A F Harvey Research Prize was made in 2011.

Previous recipients

2020 Professor Gregoire Courtine

Professor Gregoire Courtine is awarded the IET A F Harvey Prize in 2020 in recognition of his work in electrical spinal-cord stimulation to modulate the circuits that produce movement.

Combined with rehabilitative training, these targeted neuromodulation strategies restored walking and improved neurological recovery in people with spinal cord injury; but the same strategy may also enable the recovery of arm and hand movements.

The prize funding will allow him to study this possibility.
2019 Professor Jelena Vuckovic Professor Jelena Vuckovic is awarded the IET A F Harvey Engineering Research Prize 2019 in recognition of her outstanding contributions to research in the field of lasers and optoelectronics, specifically ultralow threshold photonic crystal lasers and attojoule optoelectronics, on-chip quantum photonics, and development of photonics inverse design method.
2018 Professor Mário G. Silveirinha In recognition of his outstanding contributions in the field of radar and microwave engineering, specifically in the electrodynamics of metamaterials and its applications to microwave components and devices.
2017 Professor Rui L. Reis In recognition of his outstanding contributions to research in medical engineering, specifically for contributions to bioengineering, biomedical engineering, tissue engineering and biomaterials, namely on the development of unique natural origin biomimetic scaffolds combined with specific adult stem cells for the regeneration of different human tissues.
2016 Dr Arseniy Kuznetsov In recognition of his outstanding contributions to research in the field of Lasers and Optoelectronics, as well as pioneering research on dielectric nanoantennas, a new branch of nanophotonics, which studies the behaviour and use of light in nanoscale projects.
2015 Professor Yang Hao In recognition of his research achievements in microwaves, antennas and, in particular, metamaterial antenna innovations drawing inspiration from transformation optics.
2014 Professor Eleanor Stride In recognition of her outstanding contributions to research in the field of medical engineering, specifically in biomedical ultrasound and the development of novel agents and fabrication techniques for drug delivery systems engineering.
2013 Professor Stuart Wenham In recognition of his outstanding contributions to research in the field of lasers and optoelectronics, specifically for his pioneering laser use in advanced silicon solar cell contact formation.
2012 Professor Hugh Griffiths For his outstanding contributions to radar research and his continuing work to make major improvements in bistatic radar and its applications.
2011 Dr Edward S Boyden For his pioneering research contributions to, and development of, the field of optogenetics, which has the potential to enable new approaches to therapy.