2025 Smart Nano Photography Competition
Smart Nano is happy to announce the winner of the 2025 Smart Nano Photography Competition: Dr Arthur Lipinski (QUB) with his entry, ‘Rainbow on a Nanoscale’. (See photo).
This year, entries were once again open to members of the Smart Nano research team, both university researchers and those from company partners. Further, the competition was also opened up to collaborators, those who have worked with Smart Nano over the past year.
Last year Dr Yessenia Jauregui-Sánchez, Research Fellow at Queen’s University Belfast, took down the 1st place prize with her entry ‘Polarized-light Modern Art Painting’, which displayed multi-coloured bands due to polarisation effects caused by layers cellophane tape. Yessenia returned as a judge for this year’s contest.
The 2025 winner, Arthur, stated: ‘I’m really happy to have won the photo competition with my photo of a colourful nanoscale diffraction grating. It’s amazing to see how something from the lab can turn into a piece of art. I hope this photo shows just how fascinating science can be and inspires others—especially future scientists—to explore and maybe even pursue a career in research’.
Runner-up was Dr Ian Prabowo (QUB) with his entry, ‘The Nano-Fluffy Copper Oxide: A Nature-Inspired Creation’ (see photo). Third, was Thomas McCormack (PIADS CDT), with Dr Pooja Kanade (QUB) (4th) and Dr Fatemeh Moradiani (QUB) (5th) making up the top five.
Third-placed Thomas McCormack, a PhD Candidate with the co-located EPSRC-funded Photonic Integration and Advanced Data Storage (PIADS) Centre for Doctoral Training, highlighted the potential of nanoscience for art:
‘It was a delight to be placed among the winners in this year’s photo competition. It’s a nice opportunity to take a less serious look at your work and appreciate the sublimity often hidden in the nanoscale. I also greatly enjoyed seeing the other submissions by the SmartNano cohort, there is plenty of real artistry amongst the team! I’m looking forward to next year’s competition to see what people submit then. I hope to also have some fabricated antenna designs that may catch the eye’.
Watch out for the release of the other photo entries on Social Media (coming soon!) and see you all for the 2026 Competition!
Thanks to all our judges: Yessenia Jauregui-Sánchez, Warren McConnaughie, Jason Wiggins, Teresa Cotton, and Lynda Mahon.
