We’re entering a new era of real-world palladium applications

The Palladium Global Science Award is an annual international science competition celebrating cutting-edge research across the theoretical, prototype and development stages that expands prospects for growth in palladium applications. The award highlights new and innovative uses for the metal in order to supercharge palladium’s technological and economic benefits to industry.

The Palladium Global Science Award returns for its second edition in 2026. Candidates are encouraged to submit research in novel palladium innovations from 2 March to 31 July. The prize fund of $350,000 is shared across three nominations – Best Scientific Development, Best Scientific Article and Best Applied Concept.

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Global science: entering a new era of real-world palladium applications

News

Published on 26 March 2026

Interview with Palladium Global Science Award prize winner Professor Safa Faris Kayed

Professor Safa Faris Kayed was named as one of the winners of the first Palladium Global Science Award at the inaugural prize giving ceremony in Hong Kong last November. She received the Best Applied Concept in New Palladium Applications award for her PalladClear water purification solution, winning a $50,000 prize.

Published on 17 March 2026

Palladium Global Science Award 2026 introduces new five-year eligibility rule for submissions

Published on 2 March 2026

Palladium Global Science Award 2026 opens submissions for new palladium applications

Videos

From two difficult molecules to one practical solution – Palladium Minds Podcast Episode 1

Palladium Minds is a brand new podcast from the Palladium Global Science Award. It was created in order to explore scientific developments and how they move from the laboratory to the market. In the first ever episode, Chair of the International Expert Council Professor Francis Verpoort joins Professor Chao-Jun Li, winner of the inaugural Best Scientific Development nomination. The pair discuss Professor Li’s palladium-based catalyst that converts two greenhouse gases – methane and carbon dioxide – into methanol, an industry feedstock.

The Palladium Global Science Award 2025 – Award Ceremony in Hong Kong

What is the Palladium Global Science Award?

Applications that matter

Palladium is more than a metal

Looking to the future

International Expert Council (Jury)

Prof. Francis Verpoort

Chair of the International Expert Council (Jury)

Chair Professor, State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Material Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, China; Professor, Joint Institute of Chemical Research (FFMiEN)

Prof. Francis Verpoort is a distinguished expert in organometallic chemistry and functional materials. He leads the Laboratory of Functional Hybrid Materials at Wuhan University of Technology and is the founder and CEO of SAIS Ltd, a company specializing in chemistry, materials, and engineering solutions.

Prof. Kyriaki Polychronopoulou

Full Professor of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering; Acting Chair and Director, Center for Catalysis and Separations (CeCaS), Khalifa University of Science and Technology, UAE

Prof. Polychronopoulou is an expert in catalysis and advanced materials, focusing on energy transition and alternative fuels. She is the founder and CEO of CeCaS spin-off ‘44Fuels’, dedicated to decarbonization technologies. Before joining Khalifa University, she held postdoctoral positions at Northwestern University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (USA).

Prof. Dmitri Bessarabov

Professor, North-West University, South Africa; Director, DST HySA Infrastructure Center of Competence

Prof. Bessarabov is a recognized expert in hydrogen energy and electrochemical technologies with extensive academic and industrial experience in Canada and South Africa. Since 2010, he has been leading the HySA Infrastructure Center of Competence at NWU and CSIR, focusing on hydrogen and fuel cell technologies.

Prof. Chao Chen

Associate Professor and Principal Investigator, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, China

The main research interests of Professor Chao Chen are hypervalent iodine chemistry and electrophilic cyclisation. He started his independent research as an associate professor at Tsinghua University in May 2011.

Prof. Carl J. Boehlert

Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science (ChEMS), College of Engineering, Michigan State University

Carl Boehlert is a professor of materials science at Michigan State University, with research interests in metallurgy, electron microscopy and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), metal matrix composites (MMCs), and titanium alloys and composites. Boehlert received his BS degree in Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Cornell University, New York, followed by an MS in Materials Science […]

Partners

China Precious Metals Industry Committee (CPMIC)

GENERAL PARTNER

The China Precious Metals Industry Committee (CPMIC) was founded as a subsidiary of the China National Resources Recycling Association in April 2006 following approval from the Ministry of Civic Affairs of the People’s Republic of China. CPMIC is a national social organisation.

The mission of CPMIC is to bring all parties of industry together and strengthen ties with international organisations in the industry and beyond. CPMIC will serve as a platform with member units at its core, fostering the further development of the sector by acting as a fair, transparent and efficient industry organisation with members as the decision makers.

Shanghai Metals Market (SMM)

Shanghai Metals Market (SMM) is an integrated internet platform provider that assists the global metals and mining industry in benchmarking prices and accessing analysis, news, and consulting on nonferrous, ferrous, and EV metal markets. Headquartered in Shanghai with an overseas office in London, SMM serves international customers by offering insights into the real China from a global perspective.

SMM’s flagship portal (www.metal.com) engages the most customers in the industry, with an extensive database covering over 20 years of historical data.

North-West University, South Africa

Founded in 2004 as the result of a merger between two higher education institutions, North-West University (NWU) is a leading university in Potchefstroom, South Africa. The public research university has an enrolment of 56,000 students at its campus, which dates back to 1869.

Viewed as one of the country’s most successful higher education mergers, NWU has shown strong results in student outcomes, research output and financial indicators. The institution recently featured in the subject-specific QS World University Rankings, which highlighted its agriculture, environmental sciences, physics and medicine programmes.

MDX Research Center for Element Strategy, Institute of Science Tokyo, Japan

The MDX Research Center for Element Strategy (MDXES) was established in October 2022 as the successor to the former Materials Research Center for Element Strategy (MCES). The centre is part of the Institute of Integrated Research (IIR) at the Institute of Science Tokyo. Its main goal is to develop innovative electronic functional materials in order to solve resource and environmental issues.

The MDXES utilises the unique chemical properties and subatomic structures of elements, focusing on abundant and environmentally friendly resources and following a materials design approach. The MXD Core incorporates two entities: the MDX system, which combines computational science and data science to develop new materials, and the Ammonia Core, which develops highly efficient catalysts to produce energy, hydrogen and other chemical products with a reduced environmental load.

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