The Royal Society and Académies des sciences Microsoft Award is an annual award given by the Royal Society

Royal Society

The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...

 and the Académie des sciences to scientists working in Europe who have made a major contribution to the advancement of science through the use of computational methods. It is sponsored by Microsoft Research

Microsoft Research

Microsoft Research is the research division of Microsoft created in 1991 for developing various computer science ideas and integrating them into Microsoft products. It currently employs Turing Award winners C.A.R. Hoare, Butler Lampson, and Charles P...

.

The award is open to any research scientist who has made a significant contribution at the intersection of computing and the sciences covering Biological Sciences, Physical Sciences, Mathematics and Engineering.
The prize recognizes the importance of interdisciplinary research at the interface of science and computing for advancing scientific boundaries, as well as the importance of investing in European scientists to give Europe a competitive science base.

The recipient is selected by a Committee comprising members of the Académie des sciences and Fellows of the Royal Society.
The prize consists of a trophy and monetary amount of €250,000, of which €7,500 is prize money and the rest is earmarked for further research.

List of winners

Year	Winner	Affiliation	Awarded for:	Earmarked prize toward:	Reference
2006	Dennis Bray Dennis Bray Dennis Bray is an active emeritus professor at University of Cambridge. His group is also part of the Oxford Centre for Integrative Systems Biology...	University of Cambridge University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...	Computer simulated chemotaxis Chemotaxis Chemotaxis is the phenomenon in which somatic cells, bacteria, and other single-cell or multicellular organisms direct their movements according to certain chemicals in their environment. This is important for bacteria to find food by swimming towards the highest concentration of food molecules,...  of E. coli Escherichia coli Escherichia coli is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium that is commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms . Most E. coli strains are harmless, but some serotypes can cause serious food poisoning in humans, and are occasionally responsible for product recalls...	Set-up of a computational facility to provide computational power for molecular simulations of bacterial chemotaxis.
2007	Giorgio Parisi Giorgio Parisi Giorgio Parisi is an Italian theoretical physicist. He is best known for his works concerning statistical mechanics, quantum field theory and various aspects of physics, mathematics and science in general....	La Sapienza	quantum chromodynamics Quantum chromodynamics In theoretical physics, quantum chromodynamics is a theory of the strong interaction , a fundamental force describing the interactions of the quarks and gluons making up hadrons . It is the study of the SU Yang–Mills theory of color-charged fermions...  and spin glass Spin glass A spin glass is a magnet with frustrated interactions, augmented by stochastic disorder, where usually ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic bonds are randomly distributed... es	A project called IANUS that utilized field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) as a simulator of complex systems.
2008	Nicholas Ayache	INRIA	medical image analysis	Statistics of three-dimensional shapes, the combination of several imaging modalities, and the development of computational models combining anatomy Anatomy Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...  and physiology Physiology Physiology is the science of the function of living systems. This includes how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells, and bio-molecules carry out the chemical or physical functions that exist in a living system. The highest honor awarded in physiology is the Nobel Prize in Physiology or... .
2009	Peer Bork Peer Bork Doctor Peer Bork, PhD, is senior group leader and joint head of theStructural and Computational Biology unit at EMBL, a Europeanresearch organization with headquarters in Heidelberg. He also holds...	EMBL	Computational analysis of the human microbiome Microbiome A microbiome is the totality of microbes, their genetic elements , and environmental interactions in a defined environment. A defined environment could, for example, be the gut of a human being or a soil sample. Thus, microbiome usually includes microbiota and their complete genetic elements... .