A doctor from Abingdon has been recognised in the King’s birthday honours for services to science during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dr Martin Austin Walsh, deputy director of life sciences at Diamond Light Source, a science facility based at Harwell Science and innovation Campus, was awarded the title of Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).

The Diamond Light Source website quotes Dr Walsh, who said: “I am pleased to receive this award and consider it to be a tribute to the amazing team of researchers whom I have had the privilege to work with.

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“The passion and dedication shown by Diamond staff and users who worked during the pandemic investigating ways to identify new therapies was and continues to be inspiring.

“To think that in late January 2020 when we started work on SARS-CoV-2 that this effort would grow from a small, dedicated team consisting of Petra Lukacik, Claire Strain-Damerell and David Owen and grow exponentially in a matter of months to a global collaborative network of researchers is humbling.

“The foresight to invest in Diamond meant that we were able to rapidly exploit Diamond’s structural biology capabilities especially in macromolecular crystallography enabling Diamond to make the largest contribution to the structural understanding of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and this is something everyone at Diamond, our users and the wider scientific community can be proud of.”

Dr Walsh graduated from University College Galway (UCG) with a first class honours degree in chemistry in 1989, and he remained at UCG for his PhD work.

His PhD work was a significant milestone for structural biology in Ireland, because it introduced the first protein crystal structures determined from an Irish-based research group.

In 1999 he moved to IRBM in Rome where his work focused on the structural biology of the hepatitis C virus.

In 2009, he joined Diamond Light Source with responsibility for life science research.

Also awarded with an OBE in the King’s honours list was Christopher Paul Ashworth, head of social impact at Nominet, a company which aims to boost the teaching and learning of digital skills. Mr Ashworth was awarded for services to social equality, inclusion and to the voluntary sector.

At Nominet he leads on the organisation’s commitment to social impact.

Through the design and implementation of a wide range of initiatives, philanthropic grants and partnerships, Mr Ashworth’s work addresses some of today’s most pressing social issues where technology is involved.

Mr Ashworth also works with government on the charity digital skills group under the UK digital skills partnership and with the online harms team to develop the safety tech sector in the UK.

 

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This story was written by Matthew Norman, he joined the team in 2022 as a Facebook community reporter.

Matthew covers Bicester and focuses on finding stories from diverse communities.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Matthew.norman@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @OxMailMattN1