A Powys academic whose data was instrumental to the UK going into lockdown in March 2020 has been recognised with a medal award.
Professor Neil Ferguson, who was raised in Trefeglwys, and his team of researches at Imperial College London were awarded the Weldon Memorial Prize for their work to inform the UK’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The prize is awarded annually by Oxford University for "noteworthy contributions to the development of mathematical or statistical methods applied to problems in Biology".
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The former Llanidloes High School pupil who is remembered as "super clever" by classmates was credited for convincing Prime Minister Boris Johnson to place a lockdown in order to slow the spread of the virus in the UK.
A Director of the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, Professor Ferguson said: "This award recognises the strong collaborative efforts of the UK’s scientific community in responding to the Covid-19.
"Throughout the pandemic, groups like SPI-M-O worked tirelessly to provide key information to enable governments to make informed decisions."
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