RAeS reveals its 2026 award winners

The Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) has announced the 2026 winners of the global aerospace community’s most prestigious and long-standing awards honouring achievement and innovation.

The awards celebration, held Monday evening at No.4 Hamilton Place, London, saw leaders in aviation, aerospace and space recognised for their significant contributions from space innovation to supporting technical advancement in engineering, safety, aviation heritage and best practice across the sector.

Recognition of outstanding contributions to the aerospace profession and beyond

Honorary Fellowships mark the world’s highest distinction for aerospace achievement, awarded only for the most outstanding contributions to the aerospace profession, whilst the distinction Honorary Companions recognises people whose professional achievements may not be exclusively within aerospace, or may be unconventional, yet have made a significant, lasting impact on the field.

President Awards recognise outstanding skill and professionalism in the field of aviation and aeronautics, especially in adverse circumstances. The award is entirely in the gift of the incumbent President and may be awarded to individuals or teams.

Team Medals are awarded for significant contributions to the advancement of aerospace art, science and engineering, whilst Society Specialist Group Awards are conferred on individuals or teams in well-established professional disciplines. These awards recognise advances, innovation, excellence and long service that has made a significant impact.

Individuals and teams that have made an exceptional contribution to aerospace

Several representatives of the aviation industry received Honorary Fellowships, with Mr David Guerin MRAeS recognised for his eight years of outstanding service promoting the safe and beneficial use of remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAAS). Professor Marilyn Smith FRAeS for a distinguished career advancing knowledge in aerodynamics and aeroelastics, particularly in rotorcraft. Toni Tolker-Nielsen for an extraordinary career at the European Space Agency, including guiding ESA through the crisis following the initial Ariane 5 failure, ensuring technical excellence as Inspector General and serving as Acting Director of Space Transportation Systems.

Ms Joan Garrett and Mr Max Alexander were awarded Honorary Companions. Ms Garret was awarded for revolutionising in-flight medical care through the founding of MedAire and MedLink. Mr Alexander was awarded for an exceptional contribution to science and space communication through photography.

The RAeS President Awards were awarded to Mr Robert Graham MRAeS for an exceptional contribution to the Royal Aeronautical Society’s professional standards work, with expertise, commitment and generosity instrumental in establishing the Society’s End Point Assessment activity. Mr James Angust FRAeS for an outstanding and sustained contribution to aerospace through engineering, physics, leadership and commercial expertise, including the establishment of the innovative IVHM Centre. Dr Kit Mitchell FRAeS for an exceptional and sustained contribution to preserving and promoting aerospace heritage, including founding the Journal of Aeronautical History and establishing a respected, peer-reviewed publication with a global readership.

The prestigious Silver Team Award was awarded to the Artemis II Crew for their exceptional achievement as the first astronauts in more than 50 years to travel to the Moon, for their critical human spaceflight test of deep-space exploration systems, validating spacecraft operations, life support, navigation, communications, re-entry and recovery, while advancing lunar exploration, deep-space human health research and international cooperation between the United States, Europe and Canada.

The Bronze Team Medal was awarded to the Project Bluebird for bringing together NATS, the University of Exeter and The Alan Turing Institute to deliver two world-first advances in air traffic control: a high-fidelity probabilistic digital twin and a competency-based framework for assessing AI controllers against human performance standards.

Also awarded the Bronze Team Medal were two Leonardo teams. The Leonardo Proteus Uncrewed Air System for the UK-first achievement in designing, manufacturing and flying a 2,500 kg fully autonomous aircraft in under three years.

In addition, Sovereign Hunter was awarded the Bronze Team Medal for delivering a UK-sovereign demonstration of distributed autonomous control for multiple uncrewed air systems. Through collaboration between Leonardo and SMEs Volander, Applied AGI and Faculty, the team achieved a UK-first decentralised swarm capability, integrating advanced autonomy, target recognition and safety-assured systems whilst overcoming complex integration, regulatory and environmental challenges.

• Mr Dick Ormshaw MRAeS was awarded the RP Alston Flight Specialist Group Award for pivotal leadership in the replacement of the Empire Test Pilots’ School rotary-wing training fleet, safeguarding the rigorous standards of flight-test training for the next generation of global flight-test professionals.
• Mr Ishu Verma was awarded the Propulsion Specialist Group Award for leading the engineering integration, full-scale validation and FAA certification of PhostrEx, the world’s first environmentally sustainable Halon replacement.
• Mr Cristiano Ceccato de Sabata was awarded the Air Transport Specialist Group Award for visionary leadership in airport design, planning and development, with a distinguished global body of work that has helped redefine aviation infrastructure for the 21st century through the integration of world-class architectural design, technological excellence and interdisciplinary collaboration across aviation, architecture and construction.
• Mr Stuart Martin FRAeS was awarded the Geoffrey Pardoe Award for an outstanding and sustained contribution to aerospace in building one of Europe’s most successful space companies, advancing innovation, supporting professional development and sharing knowledge, with a lasting impact on the aerospace industry.
• Ms Caitlin Harmer was awarded the Young Persons Achievement Award for outstanding leadership, innovation and contribution to aerospace, including the independent creation of CATE, transforming training for over 100 first-year apprentices.
• Mr Joshua Hughes was awarded the Young Persons Herbert Le Sueur Award for outstanding contribution to achieving the first flight of Leonardo’s Proteus autonomous uncrewed air system, demonstrating exceptional initiative, technical ability and professionalism as an Avionic Systems Engineer.
• Ms Agathe Bouis was awarded Young Persons Commendation for pioneering alternatives to GPS through the integration of distributed space systems design, precise time synchronisation, robust consensus and network science, strengthening the resilience of critical national infrastructure and advancing sovereign timing capabilities.
• Gyroplane Airworthiness was awarded Airworthiness Specialist Group Award for transforming gyroplane safety through pioneering aerodynamic research, high-fidelity simulation and flight testing.
• Tony Merton Jones was awarded the Aeronautical Heritage Specialist Group Award as part of the 2025 HMA awards.

David Edwards FRAeS, Chief Executive of the Royal Aeronautical Society said: “The Royal Aeronautical Society is delighted to celebrate the outstanding achievements of the 2026 Honours, Medals and Awards recipients. Through their expertise, ingenuity and unwavering dedication, they have helped shape the future of aerospace and driven meaningful progress across the sector.

“Their accomplishments reflect the highest levels of professionalism and innovation, serving as an inspiration to the wider international aerospace community.”

Honouring outstanding achievers in aerospace since 1909

This year’s awards demonstrate the momentous advancements being made in the aerospace sector and the RAeS hopes for continued sector support of its awards programme.

The Royal Aeronautical Society has been honouring outstanding achievers in the global aerospace industry since 1909, when Wilbur and Orville Wright came to London to receive the Society’s first Gold Medal. Over the years, honouring aerospace achievers in this way has become an annual tradition.

The Society’s Awards Programme recognises and celebrates individuals and teams who have made an exceptional contribution to aerospace, whether it is for an outstanding achievement, a major technical innovation, exceptional leadership, or for work that will further advance aerospace.

Here’s the full list of medals and awards.

How to apply for the 2027 awards

The Society’s Honours, Medals and Awards are open to everyone in and supporting the global aerospace community – from senior professionals to students and graduates.

For more information visit: www.aerosociety.com/medalsandawards