29-May-2026
This year, in addition to the Ivano Bertini Award, the Instruct-ERIC Biennial conference featured the presentation of a new award – the Sir Dave Stuart Early Career Researcher Award. The first ever recipient of the award was Daniel Hurdiss, Assistant Professor at Utrecht University.
Daniel was recognised for his work on understanding fundamental processes of positive-strand RNA viruses. The award was presented by Sir Dave Stuart, former director of Instruct-ERIC, and Rebekka Thompson of ThermoFisher Scientific, who sponsored the award. Following the award, Daniel gave a short talk outlining his work.
Daniel said:
“I am honoured to be the first recipient of the Sir Dave Stuart Award. This is an important recognition of my work and of the dedication of my team, collaborators, and mentors. I am grateful to Instruct-ERIC and ThermoFisher Scientific for their support of early-career researchers, and this award strengthens my commitment to advancing fundamental virology research and championing the impact of European structural biology infrastructure.”
Sir Dave said the following:
“I am really delighted that Instruct-ERIC is now able to make an early career award, thanks to the generosity of ThermoFisher. The transition to an independent career is tough, so it is great to be able to celebrate success stories. I am especially happy to see the first award go to Daniel Hurdiss, who is a great example of a young structural biologist who has quickly established himself as a successful collaborative expert in structural virology, contributing to basic science, but also with an eye on translational possibilities and opportunities for using genuinely integrative methods. I first met Dan when I examined his PhD thesis at Leeds before the pandemic and it has been a real pleasure to watch him move to Utrecht, spread his wings and flourish.”
We are grateful to ThermoFisher for sponsoring this award.
