The Chromatographic Society 2026 Martin and Silver Jubilee Award Winners

The Chromatographic Society (ChromSoc) has announced the recipients of the 2026 Martin Medal and Silver Jubilee Medal, recognizing outstanding achievement in separation science. Professor Guowang Xu of the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics in China, has been awarded the Martin Medal. The highest honour that ChromSoc bestows, the Martin Medal is named after Professor A.J.P. Martin who, together with Richard Synge, received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1952 for their seminal work on partition chromatography.

Xu joined the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics in 1991 as an assistant professor and was promoted to full professor in 1997. In 2017, he was appointed director of the CAS Key Laboratory of Separation Science for Analytical Chemistry. He is internationally recognized for his pioneering work in liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS)-based fundamental research and its application to metabolomics, particularly in biomarker discovery, traditional Chinese medicine, and food safety. His laboratory has developed metabolomics and lipidomics platforms, including pseudo-targeted metabolomics and modified metabolomics strategies.

Xu has authored nearly 700 scientific publications, accumulating more than 31,000 citations, alongside five books and over 100 patents. His h-index is 92. Among numerous accolades, he received the Science and Technology of China Association of Instrument Analysis (CAIA) Award in 2020.

A prominent figure at major international conferences such as HPLC and ISC, Xu has long represented China’s excellence in chromatography. He serves on the HPLC Permanent Scientific Committee and editorial boards, including Journal of Chromatography B and Analytical Chemistry, and is currently president of the Chromatography Committee of the Chinese Society of Chemistry.

The Chromatographic Society considers Guowang Xu to exemplify the ideals of a world-leading analytical scientist and a most deserving recipient of the 2026 Martin Medal.

The 2026 Silver Jubilee Medal has been awarded to Professor Bo Zhang of Xiamen University in China. The Silver Jubilee Medal was established in 1982 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of The Chromatographic Society. It recognizes up-and-coming separation scientists who have made major use of separation science in their own field or have made important contributions to a particular area of separation science.

Zhang joined Xiamen University as an associate professor in 2009. His research focuses on fundamental chromatography and hyphenation with mass spectrometry, with particular emphasis on novel separation media, column technologies, microfluidic devices, and proteomics analysis.

He has published close to 100 peer-reviewed papers, receiving around 1000 citations, and holds 10 patents. His h-index is 20. In recognition of his contributions to separation science, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) in 2024.

Outside of research, Zhang is highly active in education and community service. He serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Chromatography A, Journal of Separation Science, and Analytical Science Advances, regularly delivers invited seminars, and speaks at major international meetings. He has contributed to the organization of numerous conferences, most recently HPLC 2025 in Bruges.

Through supervising and supporting PhD students on extended research placements at leading European universities and institutes, Zhang has played an important role in strengthening collaboration between the European and Chinese chromatography communities.

ChromSoc is pleased to recognize Zhang as a rising star in chromatography and proudly names him the recipient of the 2026 Silver Jubilee Medal.

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