The European Society of Glass hosted its 12th conference in Parma, Italy, and welcomed around 350 delegates to the three-day event.

At the end of day one delegates gathered to watch the presentation of the International Commission on Glass (ICG) and the Society of Glass Technology (SGT) Awards.

This year the ICG Vittorio Gottardi award was awarded to Dr. Julian Jones, of Imperial College, London.

This award is presented each year to a young person who has made outstanding achievements in the field of glass in research and development, teaching, writing, management or commerce.

This was followed by the second ICG award, the William E.S. Turner award, which rewards those who have made a noteworthy contribution to the ICG Technical Committees.

This year the award was presented (in absentia) to Dr. Bianca Maria Scalet, of the Italian Ministry of Economic Development.

The SGT Pilkington award was next, named in honour of Sir Alistair Pilkington and his incredible achievements in the glass industry.

The award is designed to encourage and recognise excellent work in glass research achieved by someone who has come into the field of glass studies relatively recently, and is not restricted to hard science or engineering; this award spans all dimensions of glass studies, creativity and research.

This year’s SGT Pilkington award winner was Dr. Emma Barney, of the University of Nottingham, UK.

The conference itself was held over three days, with sessions including ‘Glass Technology’; ‘Glass and Environment’; ‘Properties and Measures’; ‘Special Glasses’ and ‘Glass in Architecture’. Alongside these sessions, the bi-annual ESG and annual ICG meetings were held.

A comprehensive review of the event will appear in a forthcoming printed issue of Glass International.

Caption: Prof. Russell Hand, President of the SGT, presenting Dr. Emma Barney with the SGT Pilkington Award.