New European research prize recognises breakthrough on the origins of Earth’s building blocks

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Andrew Levan

For decades scientists have asked where elements like gold, platinum, uranium, and elements that form planets and our bodies come from. The most compelling answer to date has come from the ENGRAVE team, who have shown that these elements originate from cataclysmic collisions between the universe’s most extreme stars.

This work has secured ENGRAVE, and the Warwick researchers who are deeply involved in this consortium, the inaugural European ‘Into Change Award’ - worth nearly £1 million.

Andrew Levan, Honorary Professor at University of Warwick, Professor at Radboud University and one of the named individuals for this award as chair of the Executive Committee for ENGRAVE said: “The work in ENGRAVE has focused on finding the fingerprints of heavy elements in fleeting flashes of light. This is no mean feat, these sources are faint, they emit most of their light redder than the eye can see and to secure the observations you have to act fast.”

ENGRAVE has shown how the universe’s heaviest elements are forged in rare and powerful involving neutron stars, known as kilonovae. These events act as factories for heavy elements that make up about half of the periodic table, including precious metals, rare earths, and uranium. In revealing this process, the team is shedding light on the very building blocks of both the Earth and humanity.

Danny Steeghs, Professor in the Department of Physics at Warwick and a member of ENGRAVE governing council adds: “ENGRAVE brings together almost 300 researchers from across Europe and beyond, and Warwick have been at the forefront of this effort, both in terms of the people working on the project, but also in providing supporting data, for example via our GOTO telescope array that is specifically designed to find the sources that ENGRAVE studies.”

This work has redefined our understanding of where the elements come from and shown that many critical life-giving elements are formed in these extreme star mergers. These core results were recently presented for a general audience in one of Warwick’s award-winning Christmas lectures, delivered by Andrew Levan on 26 November.

“These Christmas lectures really provide us an opportunity to explain our research to everyone, excite the public and show just how much amazing research is done at Warwick” said Ally Caldecote, who leads the Christmas lecture program at Warwick.

The ‘Into Change Award’, presented by Minister for Higher Education and Science Christina Egelund, recognises outstanding European research and the values that underpin it: curiosity, collaboration, responsibility, respect, and openness. The prize recognises European research groups delivering exceptional work of societal significance at the highest international level.

Christina Egelund, Danish Minister for Higher Education and Science says: “ENGRAVE shows what can be achieved when researchers across countries and institutions work together to solve the universe’s greatest mysteries. Their discovery of the building blocks that form our planet and ourselves is a brilliant example of European research: Curious, open and responsible.

“At the same time, the group has generously invited young talents to join their journey, ensuring the next generation of researchers who can continue to explore the secrets of the universe. ENGRAVE is a role model for the research culture of the future.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

The Warwick Christmas lectures continue on 10 December, tickets are available from Warwick Arts Centre

For more information please contact:

Matt Higgs, PhD | Media & Communications Officer (Warwick Press Office) Email: Matt.Higgs@warwick.ac.uk | Phone: +44(0)7880 175403

Press Office of the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science, +45 7231 8181 or presse@ufm.dk

About the University of Warwick

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About ENGRAVE

ENGRAVE’s work has opened a new era of multi-messenger astronomy, in which gravitational waves and light combine to reveal the universe’s most hidden processes.
Drawing on data from the LIGO–Virgo interferometer, ESO’s Very Large Telescope, the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope, the team has documented how cosmic explosions create heavy elements through the r-process, a neutron-capture mechanism triggered when ultra-dense objects called “neutron stars” collide.
ENGRAVE stands for ‘Electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave sources at the Very Large Telescope’ and brings together astronomers, physicists, and cosmologists, primarily from 13 European countries.
The collaboration was established in 2018 following the first observed neutron star merger (GW170817).
ENGRAVE consists of scientists from many universities and research institutions around Europe but also has members from every continent of the world.

About the ‘Into Change Award’

The prize recognises European research groups delivering exceptional work of societal significance at the highest international level.
Awarded groups must demonstrate curiosity, collaboration, responsibility, respect, and openness in their research.
The prize is open to research groups in all disciplines and to both current and former collaborations.
In 2025 the award totals DKK 8 million. Each member of the winning group receives a personal honorarium of DKK 100,000. The remaining funds support further research.
The six awarded individuals in 2025 are Marica Branchesi (GSSI), Andrew Levan (Radboud University and the University of Warwick), Elena Pian (INAF/Trieste), Stephen Smartt (University of Oxford), Nial Tanvir (University of Leicester) and Darach Watson (University of Copenhagen)
The Carlsberg Foundation, the Novo Nordisk Foundation and the Villum Foundation have each contributed DKK 1 million.
Candidates are assessed by the Board of the Independent Research Fund Denmark, followed by an international committee that advises the Minister for Higher Education and Science, who makes the final decision.
The ‘Into Change Award’ will be presented on 15 December at the Copenhagen Opera House.
CEO of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, says: “It is impressive to see how ENGRAVE has delivered a discovery that reshapes our entire understanding of the universe’s heaviest building blocks. In addition to generating knowledge of clear societal relevance, they stand as a strong example of what European research can achieve when collaboration across thirteen countries is given the right conditions. This is exactly the kind of research environment the Into Change Award is meant to recognise, and for us it is important to highlight a breakthrough like theirs – one that strengthens Europe’s knowledge base and advances our shared understanding.”
CEO of the Carlsberg Foundation, Lasse Horne Kjældgaard, says: “At the Carlsberg Foundation, we are pleased to help celebrate the ENGRAVE research group with the Ministry of Higher Education and Science’s new Into Change Award. At a time when basic science provides crucial answers to today’s challenges, it is important to honour the tremendous work that researchers accomplish together to expand our horizons and give us new insights into fundamental questions.”
Director of the Villum Foundation, Lars Bo Nielsen, says: “The Villum Foundation is proud to support and celebrate Europe’s leading researchers and innovators. Fundamental research is essential for everything the future holds, as are the ideas that may one day become innovation. These prizes highlight that knowledge and innovation pave the way towards a stronger and more sustainable Europe.”