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ESACT-UK

Chris Hewitt Rising Star Award

ESACT-UK is pleased to announce that nominations for the Chris Hewitt Rising Star Award 2026 are now open. 

DEADLINE: 20th of October 2025

The award recipient will be a promising early career scientist or engineer whose work shows exceptional promise in the field of animal cell technologies. 

The award is in memory of Professor Christopher J Hewitt FREng who was a Professor of Biological Engineering, a pioneer and advocate of cell culture and was Pro-Vice Chancellor and Executive Dean of the School of Life and Health Sciences at Aston University. 

Chris sadly passed away on 25 July 2019 at the age of 50; an eminent scientist and truly devoted family man.

Chris was a leading biochemical engineer, recognised for his research using flow cytometry and cell sorting to understand the interaction of the cell with the bioreactor environment within diverse systems, including animal cell culture. The last 10 years or so of his career were focussed on growing the UKs capacity in bioprocessing of human cells for cell therapy.  In recognition of his achievements, he was elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2018 and was awarded the IChemE’s Donald Medal in the same year.

Chris was an active member of ESACT-UK and a strong supporter of early career researchers, having been involved in the founding of the Centre for Doctoral Training in Regenerative Medicine and mentoring a number of post-doctoral researchers and early career lecturers over the years. He has been greatly missed in the community since he passed in July 2019 and this award has been established in his honour.

CHRSA Winner 2025

Dr James Budge

Lecturer

University of Kent

James is an academic researcher working at the interface between fundamental biological science and industrial bioprocessing at the University of Kent. After completing his PhD in 2016, he undertook a variety of post-doctoral positions in Mark Smales’ lab at the university with various collaborators including Lonza Biologics and as part of a consortium Global Challenges Research Fund. Research into the cellular mechanisms involved in upstream manufacturing processes has directly led to granting of three internationally recognised patents in the biotherapeutics field. James also joined the ESACT Frontiers committee in 2024 who provide personal and professional development opportunities for early career scientists. In January 2025 he started his current position as Lecturer in Industrial Biotechnology and is now establishing his group as an independent principal investigator where he will continue to focus on developing tools and bioprocesses to enhance the biotherapeutic field.

Notes for Applicants

The award recipient will be announced at our annual conference in January each year and invited to speak at the following conference. They will also receive free lifetime ESACT-UK membership.

Eligibility:  Any person with 10 years of relevant experience or less (total, excluding career breaks) working in the field of animal cell technologies is eligible so long as they have worked for a significant portion in the UK or with a UK organisation. The community is invited to nominate individuals who they feel meet these criteria by completing the nominations form. You can also self-nominate.

Submission of nominations: To submit a nomination, please complete the form below. The form includes details of (1) the Nominee, (2) the reason for nomination and (3) the Nominator. All nominations forms must be received by no later than 20th of October 2025, 23.59 GMT. 

Assessment process: Nominations will be checked for eligibility and all eligible candidates taken forward to a judging panel consisting of two ESACTUK committee members and at least two others external to the committee. 

Each judge will score against the following criteria: the nominees outstanding contribution to the field of animal cell technology for someone at their career stage, how they are national ambassador for the field, their potential to create impact.

Successful candidates will be informed by the end of December.   

Chris Hewitt Rising Star Award Application Form

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1Details of the Nominee
2Reason
3Nomination
Name*