Hydrometallurgy Gordon M. Ritcey Ph.D. Award

Hydrometallurgy Gordon M. Ritcey Ph.D. Award

2026 Recipient

Arian Norouzi, McGill University

For outstanding accomplishments in the pursuit of a Ph.D. degree in hydrometallurgy.

Arian Norouzi is a Ph.D. candidate in Materials Engineering at McGill University under the supervision of Kristian E. Waters and George P. Demopoulos, and a recipient of the FRQNT Doctoral Scholarship. Specializing in hydrometallurgy and advanced materials processing, he completed both his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Materials Engineering at Iran University of Science and Technology, where he ranked among the top students and received Exceptional Talents admission to graduate studies. His current research explores low-temperature alkaline electrolysis of iron ores as a pathway toward COâ‚‚-free iron production and sustainable ironmaking. Combining hydrometallurgy, electrochemistry and mineral processing, his work investigates the influence of ore characteristics and operating conditions on electrochemical reduction performance. Arian has presented his research at major Canadian metallurgy conferences, including COM and CMP, and published in scientific journals focused on sustainable metallurgical processing. His long-term objective is to help develop scalable and environmentally responsible metallurgical technologies.

2025 – Fariba Mousavi, Université Laval2024 – Noel Devaere, University of Toronto2023 – Guillermo Hein Alvial, Queen’s University
2022 – Maryam Pourmahdavi, Laurentian University2021 – Konstantina Chalastara, McGill University2020 – Kevin Turgeon, Laval University
2019 – Yan Zeng, McGill University2018 – Denver Cowan (Queen’s University)2017 – Ajanthia Gunaratnam (UBC)
2016 – A. D. Bas, Laval University2015 – A. Burns, University of British Columbia2014 – R. Tavakoli, University of British Columbia
2013 – No award2012 – T. Feldmann, McGill University2011 – G. Nazari, University of British Columbia
2010 – I. Perederiy, University of Toronto2009 – G. Azimi, University of Toronto2008 – F. Xie, University of British Columbia
2007 – B. Rivera-Vasquez, University of British Columbia2006 – J. Vaughan, University of British Columbia2005 – L. Munholand, Sherbrooke University
2004 – F. Lagno, McGill University  

About Gordon M. Ritcey

Gordon Ritcey (1930-2021) graduated from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1952. Dr. Ritcey has worked with the Radioactivity Division of Department of Mines & Technical Surveys in Ottawa. Afterwards he joined Eldorado Mining & Refining at Port Radium in the North West Territories as Chief Chemist until 1957. During the next ten years from 1957-1967, Dr. Ritcey was Head of Chemical Research at the Eldorado R&D Division in Ottawa. Dr. Ritcey spent the next 21 years at CANMET in Ottawa as Senior Research Scientist and Head of Hydrometallurgy, where numerous separation processes were developed. He then “retired” to become an independent consultant, a role in which he remained active until his mid-eighties.

Dr. Ritcey has published over 150 papers, in addition to a two-volume text on solvent extraction; and an authoritative text on tailings management. Seventeen patents have been granted. Dr. Ritcey has been a technical session chairman of numerous national and international conferences as well as conference chairman of several national conferences . He was President of the Metallurgical Society of CIM (1976-77), and during the period 1986-96 he served as Secretary-General of the International Committee for Solvent Extraction. He was the founding editor of the international journal of Hydrometallurgy (1975), and remained as editor for 19 years.

Dr. Ritcey has received numerous honours, including being the first recipient of the Sherritt Gordon Hydrometallurgy Medal; the Alcan Medal; CIM Silver Medal, the University of Liege (Belgium) Medal; the Mendeleev Medal (Russia) and the Carl Hanson Medal (ISEC).

Eligibility

To be eligible for this award, the candidate must be registered in a Ph.D. program in the field of hydrometallurgy during the entire academic year in a Canadian university.

Applications must include:

  1. A copy of the applicant’s academic transcripts
  2. A summary of the project, including preliminary results, a discussion concerning subsequent project orientation, and a list of prepared publications or conference presentations (2-3 pages maximum)

To encourage graduate studies in the field of hydrometallurgy, the Hydrometallurgy Section offers an award of $5,000 to honour the accomplishments of a Ph.D. graduate student in the field of hydrometallurgy in a Canadian university. In addition to the cash award, we award one free registration for the conference at which we present the award, plus free admission to the social events we sponsor at that conference.

Submit your application

Email your application package to Georgios Kolliopoulos and Ramanpal Saini, Chairs of Student Support at: Georgios.Kolliopoulos@gmn.ulaval.ca and ramanpal.saini@vale.com

Application deadline: February 10, 2026

 

The call for scholarship applications is closed for 2026.