Judith Evans wins J&E Hall Gold
12th February 2026
UK: Judith Evans of Refrigeration Developments and Testing and London South Bank University has been recognised for her contributions to the industry with the J&E Hall International Gold Medal.
The J&E Hall International Gold Medal recognises the most noteworthy practical contribution to innovation in refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump technology. The award was one of a number of annual awards announced at tonight’s Institute of Refrigeration dinner in London.
Evans received the medal for her contribution to energy and carbon reduction, by optimising refrigeration performance throughout the food cold chain. Her citation recognised her work which has consistently combined academic excellence with practical application, addressing real-world challenges in energy use, carbon reduction, food safety, and food quality.
Ted Perry Memorial Award
Jake Locke of the University of Warwick was awarded the Ted Perry Memorial Award for Student Research for his work on Investigation of salt mixtures for resorption heat pump cycles. Focusing on low-carbon thermal technologies, Locke has developed a novel sorption-based heating and cooling system using innovative salt mixtures and ammonia as a low-GWP refrigerant, offering a credible alternative to gas boilers.
Engineering technician section Lifetime Achievement Award
This year’s winner of the IOR’s RACHP Engineering Technician Section Lifetime Achievement Award went to Andy Clarke, a freelance project specialist at Airconuk, who was considered to have displayed exceptional dedication to customers and employers throughout his career.
He was described as someone who embodies the values of dedication, professionalism, and hands-on expertise that are essential to this industry.
Lightfoot Medal
This year’s Lightfoot Medal, awarded for the best IOR Talk and Paper of the previous year, was made jointly to Catarina Marques and Dermot Cotter for their paper Energy Usage in the Industrial Refrigeration Sector: Food, Drink, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Refrigeration.
Decided by member vote, the paper and a recording of the presentation is available on the IOR website. The authors donated their prize of £500 to the IOR president’s fund, requesting that it be used to support and advance training across the industry.
Beyond Refrigeration Environmental Award
The IOR Beyond Refrigeration Environmental Award is made annually to a project demonstrating the achievements of our sector in reducing environmental emissions from cooling in the UK. This year it was awarded to Space Engineering for their Booster Integrated Solution Plus.
This project involved the replacement of multiple HFC refrigeration plants and gas boilers with a far smaller, all-electric solution using CO2 refrigerant. It reduced materials use, site disruption, energy and emissions. Live monitored performance showed consistently high efficiencies achieved, strong seasonal performance, verified carbon savings of around 180 tonnes over its lifecycle, and a clear commercial return. It sets a new benchmark for low-carbon supermarket refrigeration and heating. The judges were particularly impressed with the philosophy of continuous improvement of sound principles the project demonstrated, in particular the controls strategy.
