The Helios prize is awarded for graduate work in sustainable energy or energy efficiency.
It’s wonderful to have a prize like this dedicated to research in sustainable energy and energy efficiency – a topic of great magnitude and significance, both to the University and to the whole of society.
Professor Richard Prager
The Helios prize is made possible thanks to a generous donation from Cambridge alumnus John Firth. He approached the Department specifically to set up the prize in honour of graduate work in sustainable energy or energy efficiency, and asked that the prize be named after Helios, because the world’s renewable energy is fundamentally driven by solar energy.
The medal itself was crafted by Alistair Ross, who was at the time the Manager of Design and Technical Services at the Department of Engineering, who machined it on-site using a 3D pantograph, drawing inspiration for the design from a Helios coin loaned to him by the Fitzwilliam Museum, believed to date from the 2nd to 1st century BC.
Eligibility
Applicants must:
(i) be current graduate students under the supervision of the Degree Committee for the Faculty of Engineering; AND
(ii) have completed no more than twelve terms of their current course of research since admission as a graduate student; AND
(iii) not have been awarded the Helios Prize in a previous year.
Subject
The prize is awarded for a paper on some subject, selected by the candidate, on a topic under the broad heading of renewable energy or energy efficiency. This paper must have been accepted for publication in an established or learned journal. No applicant may submit more than one paper.
Deadline and mode of application
The paper must be received by the Engineering Degree Committee Secretary no later than the deadline of 15 November 2023. In addition to the paper, applicants must submit a CV, and a covering letter which should include a statement describing their contribution to the paper. The mode of submission should be by email attachment to graduate-studies@eng.cam.ac.uk; the subject line should clearly specify that an entry for the Helios Prize is attached. There is no application form.
Assessment
Applications will be subject to an initial review by the Chair of the Engineering Degree Committee and the Head of one of the Engineering Department Divisions, to establish the relevance of the topics and that the work is of a high quality. The award shall be made by the Head of the Department of Engineering and two judges working in relevant fields. They may determine that no entry is of sufficient merit to be granted the award, or that the award should be divided between more than one entrant.
Total Award
The value of the award is Can$5,000 and varies depending on the exchange rate, but is expected to be in the region of £2,500. There is also a medal to be awarded; in cases of the prize being divided between more than one entrant, the judges will determine who should receive the medal.
There are a number of University academic prize competitions which may be of interest to graduate students within the Department of Engineering. Further details can be found on the graduate studies website.
Mr John Firth Biography
Mr John Firth read Mechanical Sciences at St John’s College (1954 –1957, gaining 2nd class Hons). As an athlete, he became an Alverston club member, and won the 220yds hurdles vs Oxford; he was also the 1957 University Badminton Team Singles winner.
In 1958, he accepted a graduate apprenticeship at Smith's Aviation, Cheltenham, followed by a staff position in 1960. For recreation, he played badminton and served as the Assistant Leader, Cheltenham Youth Orchestra .
In 1959, he joined the Bristol Gliding club and soloed after six weeks and 50 flights, this became a lifelong passion.
In 1961, John joined the the Radio Astronomy group in the Cavendish Laboratory in, as research assistant; he joined the C.U. gliding club and also played violin in the St John's College Orchestra .
In 1962, he accompanied a radio astronomy experiment to Goddard Space Flight Center (Washington DC) for the UK2 (Ariel) satellite; on weekends he began instructing at a gliding club; he also joined an amateur orchestra.
Following the successful launch of Ariel, he returned to Cambridge. Having had only civic holidays for two years, he took a summer vacation flying his Skylark glider from Marshall's airfield, completing a Gold badge. He also set a UK 200 km triangle speed record.
He entered and won the UK Southern Region championships.
In 1964, UK engineering salaries not being attractive, he obtained a position at RCA Victor (later Spar Aerospace), Montreal, working on the ISIS satellite; weekends were a time for learning to ski, while again playing violin in the McGill University orchestra under the distinguished conductor Alexander Brott.
In 1965, he was invited by the British Gliding Association to represent the UK in the US Championships; after buying a share in a modern glider, he competed successfully, winning a day and coming 4th overall.
He was recruited by the Cosmic Ray group, National Research Council, Ottawa, to design electronics for various experiments launched on rockets at Fort Churchill.
From 1966 to 1978, there were various responsibilities; he devised a portable processor for pulse code modulation signals from rockets which outperformed an expensive commercial decoder; then a data gathering and recording system based on an early DEC mini- computer for a 50 sq metre cosmic ray array.
In Ottawa, he started playing chamber music regularly; he became familiar and competent in the string quartet and pfte qt. repertoire until after 45 years, a torn shoulder forced retirement.
He also helped establish a gliding club, later becoming chief tow pilot and instructor; he was a member of the Canadian Gliding team in five International Championships, with many top ten finishes and a best daily placing of second. From 1966 to 1977 he set sixteen Canadian records culminating in a 750 km triangle, the first in the Americas.
From 1979 to 1990, John worked on experiment design and a power converter for the COSPIN group of five experiments on the Ulysses (International) spacecraft. From 1990 to 1995 he was fully engaged on electronics design for a He3/He4 solar wind experiment. It was flown on TIROS weather satellite.
He retired in 1995, bought a cruising sailboat, and continued flying until 2023. In 2019. He founded the University of Cambridge, Department of Engineering Helios Award for graduate research in 'renewable energy or energy efficiency'; then in 2022 the St John’s College Leonardo Award in Engineering and Science.
