IOR members haves been celebrating the achievements of individuals working in diverse roles in refrigeration, air-conditioning and heat pumps at the 2020 IOR Annual Dinner which honours professionals at different stages of their career.

Qi Xu of the University of Nottingham has been awarded the prestigious Ted Perry Student Research Award for her research on an innovative heat pump “the EcoPump”. A young researcher, Qi Xu has been working on this project with several industry partners and judges commented that this low energy HVAC system is a novel and exciting project that could have a far-reaching and significant impact on the domestic mass market for air conditioning. This award was established by a trust gift from the Perry Family and is sponsored by Hawco.

One of the most anticipated awards of the night, the Lifetime Achievement Award sponsored by ACR Journal has been presented to Paul Gardner of JPS Refrigeration. Recognised for his track record in outstanding  customer service throughout his 43-year career in the industry, the judges also highlighted Paul’s dedication in building a thriving family business from scratch while still working as a service engineer, demonstrating what small businesses can achieve to rival bigger companies.

The J&E Hall International Award which recognises the most noteworthy practical contribution in the field of refrigeration, air conditioning or heat pumps has been won by Dave Pearson of Star Renewable Energy. His work in the development of industrial-scale heat pumps has been credited with providing a model for how our sector can play a major part in achieving a cleaner, healthier cities and contribute to the drive towards net zero. This award is established and presented in association with J&E Hall International.

The Lightfoot Medal, which is presented in association with Lightfoot Defence, is given to the best IOR talk and paper as voted by members. This year, it was awarded jointly to Andrew Gigiel and Chris Jessop for their presentation on “Why don’t people install heat pumps?” – if you missed this talk you can still view a recording of the webinar version at www.ior.org.uk