George Sykes was one of very few people to be a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chemistry, a Fellow of the Institute of Biology and an Honorary Member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. He was the author of two editions of the seminal textbook Disinfection and Sterilization: Theory and Practice, published in 1958 and 1964 respectively, and was heavily involved in making sure disinfection and sterilization methods were included in the British Pharmacopeia Commission.

By the time of the Medicines Act in 1968 Mr Sykes was right at the top of his profession, having gained a great reputation within his field.

The Award was inaugurated in George Sykes’ spirit to acknowledge the patience, precision and proper explanation that are required when sharing best practice in the field of human medicine preparation. These are values upheld by the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Sciences Society to this day, so it is fitting that the Award continues to recognise research excellence from forerunners in the development of contemporary sterilisation and disinfection techniques.

Describing Mr Sykes Parenteral Society founder Dr Gerry Prout said: “I met George Sykes a few times in the early days of my career as a microbiologist. He was a very decent man, who always had time to explain things.

“He was not so much an original pioneer in the field of sterilisation and disinfection, but a very good implementer. He took all the existing information on the topics and developed it further for the good of the industry.

“Mr Sykes gave his implicit support to the Parental Society and it is certainly true to say that the first people involved in the Society took his message on and developed it through their work.”