Applied Microbiology International Names 2026 Horizon Award Winners

Applied Microbiology International, the oldest microbiology society in the United Kingdom, has announced the winners of its Horizon Awards 2026, a prize portfolio designed to celebrate the researchers, teams, projects and advocates who are shaping the future of applied microbiology. The awards span a deliberately broad set of domains, from climate science and food security to waterborne disease control, childhood infection, environmental conservation and equality in science, reflecting the society’s view that microbes sit at the centre of nearly every global challenge. This year’s cohort includes a climate microbiologist in Australia, a food scientist in Brazil, a water and sanitation researcher in the United Kingdom, a paediatric global health scientist in the United States, a microbial ecologist in California, and an equity leader whose programmes have transformed access to biomedical careers for Black students in Britain.

The WH Pierce Global Impact in Microbiology Prize, which honours individuals, teams or organisations whose applied microbiology work has made groundbreaking contributions to global challenges, has been awarded to Professor Chris Greening of Monash University in Australia. Greening leads the CLIMB: Climate and Microbiology Research Unit and serves as Director of the Global Change Program, and his laboratory works across scales that few groups attempt, from atomic-level enzymology to ecosystem-scale greenhouse gas accounting. His team has pioneered discoveries on how microorganisms regulate greenhouse gases, sustain terrestrial and marine ecosystems, and influence One Health outcomes, the integrative framework that links human, animal and environmental health.

What distinguishes Greening’s work, according to the award citation, is its translation into practice. Through major industry and programmatic partnerships, his research has been carried into agricultural methane reduction programs, pathogen surveillance systems, Antarctic stewardship initiatives, and microbial conservation efforts. He has published more than 180 peer-reviewed articles and his honours include the 2023 Australian Prime Minister’s Prize for Life Scientist of the Year, election to three microbiology academies, and recognition as a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. He is also cited as a strong advocate for diverse and empowering environments in science, and has mentored numerous researchers into independent careers and research groups of their own.

The Basil Jarvis Food Security and Innovation Award, which recognises outstanding achievements in applied microbiology that advance global food security and sustainable innovation, goes to Professor Marciane Magnani, Professor of Food Science at the Federal University of Paraíba in Brazil. Magnani is a food microbiology researcher whose portfolio spans food safety, predictive microbiology, fermented and functional foods, and microbiome-related approaches. Her research integrates microbial ecology, fermentation and One Health perspectives, with a particular emphasis on the valorization of native biodiversity and the design of sustainable food systems, work with obvious relevance at a time when food chains face simultaneous pressures from climate change, antimicrobial resistance and shifting consumer demands.

Magnani has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed publications and holds editorial roles at several high-impact journals, including Food Research International and Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, while serving as Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Letters in Applied Microbiology, an AMI publication. She coordinates Food Science at CAPES, Brazil’s Ministry of Education agency, and is a CNPq Research Productivity Fellow under the Ministry of Science and Technology. Internationally, she sits on the FAO/WHO roster of experts in Microbiological Risk Assessment and on the Joint Expert Meetings on the use of omics-based technologies, contributing to scientific committees and collaborative networks across Europe, the Americas and Asia.

Public health innovation is recognised through the John Snow Public Health Innovation Prize, awarded to environmental microbiologist Professor James Ebdon of the University of Brighton. Ebdon’s applied research examines the role of water and sanitation in the spread and control of water-related diseases, frequently using bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria, and other microbial indicators to trace contamination pathways that conventional chemistry cannot resolve. His internationally funded projects have taken him from India with Gates Foundation support to Malawi with UNICEF, Nepal under the Global Challenges Research Fund, and Bangladesh with Elrha and Médecins Sans Frontières, generating findings with direct operational consequences.

Those field programmes have helped to illuminate potential typhoid transmission routes within densely populated slum communities, identify human faecal pollution pathways in surface waters, expose flaws in the construction and siting of shallow wells, and improve emergency sanitation interventions such as lime treatment of faecal sludge during humanitarian crises. Closer to home, Ebdon’s interest in phages led to an invitation to pitch to the UK Government’s Science, Innovation and Technology Committee on behalf of AMI, a contribution that helped trigger a parliamentary inquiry into the antimicrobial potential of bacteriophages launched in November 2022. He co-directs research across the University of Brighton’s Centre for Environment and Society.

The Christiana Figueres Policy to Practice Award, which recognises individuals who bridge the gap between applied microbiology, policy and real-world implementation, has gone to Professor Stephen Obaro, Professor of Pediatrics and Senior Scientist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Obaro is the founder of the International Foundation Against Infectious Diseases in Nigeria, a nonprofit built around the mission of reducing preventable childhood deaths from infectious disease and strengthening health systems where the burden is highest. For more than two decades his research has focused on pneumonia, typhoid fever, antimicrobial resistance, sickle cell disease and emerging threats affecting children, particularly in Africa, and evidence from his West African studies has informed global vaccine development, surveillance strategies and clinical guidelines.

A defining feature of Obaro’s career is capacity building. Through IFAIN he has established a multidisciplinary platform for infectious disease research, laboratory strengthening, surveillance and graduate training, with a laboratory network supporting collaborative work in Nigeria, Liberia and Ghana through the Joint West Africa Research Group. The network provides training and research opportunities for basic and clinical microbiologists through partnerships spanning Africa, the United States and the United Kingdom, an approach that treats sustainable local research infrastructure as an outcome as important as any single publication.

The Rachel Carson Environmental Conservation Award goes to Jack Gilbert, Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, where he is also Associate Vice Chancellor for Marine Science. Gilbert earned his Ph.D. at Nottingham University in 2002 and has held positions at Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago. A pioneer of microbial ecology, he co-founded the Earth Microbiome Project and the American Gut Project, founded the journal mSystems, and has authored more than 450 peer-reviewed publications, including the popular science book Dirt is Good. He serves as UC San Diego’s principal investigator for the NIH’s 175 million dollar Nutrition for Precision Medicine program, co-founded BiomeSense in 2018, advises Oath Biome as chief scientific officer, and directs the UC San Diego Soil Health Center. His honours include Popular Science’s Brilliant Ten, the IFF Microbiome Science Prize and election to the American Academy of Microbiology, and he is currently co-chair of the IUCN Microbial Conservation Specialist Group after recently completing a term as President of Applied Microbiology International.

The Dorothy Jones Diversity and Inclusion Achievement Award recognises outstanding contributions to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion within STEM, and this year goes to Afua Acheampong, a senior equity leader, strategist and speaker with more than eight years of experience advancing racial equity across higher education and research institutions. As Head of the Black Internship Programme at Health Data Research UK, she led the strategic design, delivery and expansion of a national programme improving access and career development for Black students and graduates in health data science. She created the Nottingham Trent University Black Leadership Programme in 2019, an initiative that has since supported and graduated over 800 Black students and remains a leading model for inclusive practice in higher education. She previously led race equality at Queen Mary University of London, securing the institution’s first Race Equality Charter award, and serves as Deputy Chair of the Black in Biomedical Research Advisory Group, a national Medical Research Council board overseeing investment into racial equity in biomedical research, as well as Finance Chair of the Minoritised Life Scientists Future Forum. Looking ahead, AMI is expanding the portfolio for 2027 with four new Early Career Excellence Awards in environmental conservation, food security and innovation, public health innovation, and global impact, while the Policy to Practice and Diversity and Inclusion awards remain open across career stages. Winners of all ten awards will be celebrated at the LAM ECR Symposium at Queen Mary University of London in June 2027.

Subject of Research: Applied Microbiology International Horizon Awards 2026

Article Title: Winners of Applied Microbiology International Horizon Awards 2026 announced

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Keywords: applied microbiology, Horizon Awards, climate change, food safety, public health, waterborne disease, microbial ecology, One Health, diversity and inclusion, STEM equity, bacteriophages, vaccine research