In recent years the International Standing Committee on Thermochronology has awarded the Dodson and Laslett prizes to recognize accomplishments by members of the community, and has always given awards to students who make the best presentations at the Thermo meetings. Starting in 2018, we began awarding the Charles and Nancy Naeser Prize for early-career thermochronologists. More information about each award can be found below, following the information about award recipients.
Nominations for these prizes are welcome, but are due well before the relevant Thermo meeting at which the prizes will be awarded. Please contact Max Zattin for information about how to submit nominations and what materials are required.
Awards Subcommittee of the ISCT. The ISCT maintains this subcommittee, which is chaired by a member of the ICST but can include members from the community and the ISCT itself. Information about the committee and the process it uses can be found in the ISCT by-laws. Current subcommittee members are:
- Max Zattin (Chair)
- Eva Enkelmann
- Matthew Fox
- Rong Yang
- Cornelia Spiegel
2025 Recipients
2025 Laslett Prize to Takahiro Tagami (Kyoto University, Japan)
The 2025 Dodson Prize was awarded to Jean Braun (GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam) for his pioneering contributions to thermochronology, tectonics, and geomorphology. His development of numerical models and interpretative methods has provided fundamental insights into geological and thermochronological records, shedding light on processes such as upper crustal thermal structure, lithospheric deformation, and surface–biosphere interactions.
2025 Dodson Prize to Jean Braun (GFZ, Germany)
The 2025 Laslett Prize went to Takahiro Tagami (Kyoto University) in recognition of his groundbreaking work on zircon fission-track annealing kinetics and the application of thermochronology to fault zone rocks. His research significantly advanced the field of fission-track thermochronology.
2023 Charles and Nancy Naeser Prize to Birk Haertel (University of Calgary, Canada)
The 2025 Charles and Nancy Naeser Prize was awarded to Birk Härtel (University of Calgary), honoring his innovative methodological contributions across multiple thermochronometric techniques. His achievements include establishing zircon Raman thermochronology, defining new zircon (U-Th)/He reference materials, providing guidelines for dataset evaluation, and identifying phantom age components in detrital data analysis.
Previous Prize Recipients
- 2023 Dodson Prize: Mark Harrison
- 2023 Laslett Prize: Rex Galbraith
- 2023 Charles and Nancy Naeser Prize: Sarah Falkowski & Kalin McDannell
- 2020/2021 Dodson Prize: Richard Ketcham & Kerry Gallagher
- 2020/2021 Laslett Prize: Diane Seward & Barry Kohn
- 2020/2021 Charles and Nancy Naeser Prize: William Guenthner
- 2018 Dodson Prize: Andrew Carter
- 2018 Laslett Prize: Günther Wagner
- 2018 Charles and Nancy Naeser Prize: Alexis Ault, Marissa Tremblay
- 2016 Dodson Prize: Peter Zeitler
- 2016 Laslett Prize: Charles (Chuck) W. Naeser
- 2014 Dodson Prize: Oscar Lovera
- 2014 Laslett Prize: Andrew Gleadow
- 2012 Dodson Prize: Martin Dodson
Information about the Awards
Dodson Prize.
This prize is awarded on behalf of the international thermochronology community by the ISCT to a person who has made an extraordinary contribution, in any way, to the field of thermochronology and/or to the international community of thermochronologists. The prize was conceived and named in honor of Martin Dodson, the pioneer of quantitative thermochronology, who died at age 78 on 27 June 2010.
Laslett Prize.
This prize is awarded on behalf of the international thermochronology community by the ISCT to a person who is deemed to have made an extraordinary contribution to the field of fission-track thermochronology. The prize is named after and was conceived to honor, Geoff Laslett, a pioneer of quantitative fission-track analysis and an outstanding scientist and statistician, who died on 9th January 2010.
Charles and Nancy Naeser Prize:
This prize is awarded on behalf of the international thermochronology community by the ISCT to an early-career scientist who has made an outstanding and/or innovative contribution to our field. The award is named in honor of Charles “Chuck” and Nancy Naeser in recognition of their ground-breaking fundamental work in the field of thermochronology over many years (Chuck died on 18 November 2016). Eligibility requires the candidate to be actively engaged in the field and seven years or less out from their Ph.D. award (excluding periods of parental or unpaid leave during which the candidate was not working).