The Ralph A Lewin Prize

The Ralph A. Lewin Prize is an award of £550 and is open to all St Cross College students currently studying for a DPhil in their second year or above in any of the Biological, Environmental or Medical Sciences.

The prize is named in honour of former St Cross fellow Professor Ralph A Lewin, a marine microbiologist, Esperantist and ‘father of green algae genetics’. A leading authority in marine biology, he spent his career at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and published more than 250 scientific papers. He was also a professor at Akademio Internacia de la Sciencoj San Marino and translated Winnie the Pooh into Esperanto; a room in the West Wing now bears the name Winnie-La-Pu in fond memory of his Esperanto work. The prize was established by his widow, marine entomologist and long-time friend of the College, Dr Lanna Cheng.

Applicants should submit a copy of their academic CV together with a covering letter (up to two pages) on their research project and successes, written for a non-specialist audience, to the Senior Tutor (Academic Affairs & Programmes) at joanna.ashbourn@stx.ox.ac.uk and also ask their supervisor to send a reference supporting their application directly to the same email address.

The deadline for the 2024 award is 17:00 on Friday, 22 March 2024 and all applications will be reviewed by a panel.