Bulletin Board: 2025 DEIS Eric O. Forster Award

Simon Rowland, professor of electrical materials at the University of Manchester, UK, is the recipient of the 2025 IEEE DEIS Eric O. Forster Memorial Award. The award recognizes “outstanding contributions and sustained leadership in the advancement of the field of dielectrics and electrical insulation.” The award is named in honor of Eric Forster, who was a prolific volunteer for the IEEE DEIS during its early years and who created many of the DEIS conferences the IEEE Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Society now organizes. The Forster Award is only presented in odd-numbered years to carefully selected colleagues. Rowland received his BSc degree in 1980 from the University of East Anglia in Norwich and his PhD degree in 1984 from Chelsea College, The University of London. In his academic career, he was appointed a senior lecturer in 2003 and a professor in 2009 at the University of Manchester. Prof. Rowland was head of the Electrical and Electronic Engineering School at Manchester from 2015 to 2019. Before his academic career, he worked as a research engineer at STC in 1980–1981 and 1984–1989; in several engineering and management positions at BICC, a cable manufacturer, from 1989 until 1999; and in senior management at CCS, a part of Corning Inc., beginning 1999.