Two University of York academics have been awarded Philip Leverhulme Prizes by the Leverhulme Trust.

The prizes, with a value of £70,000 each, have been awarded to Dr Jo Applin, in the Department of History of Art, and Dr Kirsty Penkman, in the Department of Chemistry.

The prizes are awarded to outstanding scholars who have made a substantial and acknowledged contribution to their particular field of study, which has been recognised at an international level, and where the expectation is that their greatest achievements are yet to come.

Dr Applin was recognised for her work in modern and contemporary art since 1960. She will use the prize to work on two projects.

The first is the completion of her third book, titled Lee Lozano: Not Working 1960-1972, which focuses on female artist Lee Lozano, a key member of the New York art world during the 1960s.

The second project is a major loan exhibition Dr Applin is co-curating for York City Art Gallery titled Flesh, which focuses on radically different representations of the body in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Dr Penkman was recognised for her work in the application of analytical chemistry to geochronology, archaeology and earth science.

Recent advances in amino acid dating have revolutionised the ability to date the fossil record of the past two to three million years, and the prize will allow the development of a dating framework across Europe.