The Optical Group and the Quantum Electronics and Photonics (QEP) Group are pleased to announce that the Optics and Photonics prize, awarded biennially for an outstanding contribution to the optics and photonics community mainly undertaken in the UK or Ireland, has been awarded to Professor Philip Dawson of the University of Manchester. The prize was awarded for Prof Dawson’s major contributions, over four decades, to the understanding of the optical properties of semiconductors, particularly materials based on gallium nitride which are used for LED lighting