LGBTQ+ STEM awarded the 2020 Royal Society Athena Prize

We’re very delighted and deeply humbled to announce that Dr Beth Montague-Hellen and Dr Alex Bond from LGBTQ+ STEM have been awarded the 2020 Royal Society Athena Prize, awarded to those “who have contributed most to the advancement of diversity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) within their communities”. The nomination was submitted in January before Dr Izzy Jayasinghe joined LGBTQ+ STEM.

“The prize is awarded to Dr Alex Bond and Dr Beth Montague-Hellen for developing the LGBTQ+ STEM initiative. This ground-breaking project boosts the visibility of, and created a network for, LGBTQ+ people working in STEM fields, including establishing the first online directory of LGBTQ+ STEM professionals and the annual LGBTQ+ STEMinar conference.”

Our success, though, is entirely thanks to all of you. What started as a random twitter/blog musing has grown into a fantastic community, and spawned the LGBTQ+ STEMinar. It’s brought together literally hundreds of LGBTQ+ folks in science, technology, engineering, and maths to celebrate our whole selves, create new friendships, new mentorships, and new partnerships. Thank you.

But like many other things, there is still much more we need to do. We need to make things more welcoming for LGBTQ+ BAME scientists, as highlighted in Craig Poku’s recent blog post. We need to support our trans colleagues in the face of increasing public transphobia. We need to build on our successes of the last 5 years to make STEM a more welcoming place for everyone.

“This award spurs on the work that we’re doing to ensure that LGBTQ+ scientists can see themselves with a future in science, and that they can be their whole selves while doing it. Recognition for your work always lights a fire and as well as motivating us, I hope it will also encourage others. Science has a long way to go in making its space fully open to all regardless of sexuality, gender, race, class or disability, hopefully this award will help others in the field see that they too can be recognised for the work they’re putting in right now” – Dr Beth Montague-Hellen

 

“Working to improve, and advocating for, equity, diversity, inclusion, and justice in science often feels like a thankless and underrecognized pursuit. I hope this recognition from the Royal Society allows some people to finally see themselves reflected in the professional arena for the first time, reminding us of how far we’ve come, but also how much more work there is to do. This prize will spur on further work for LGBTQ+ STEM, and hopefully motivate others to make their corner of the world a little better.” – Dr Alex Bond

So, thank you all for making LGBTQ+ STEM a success, for joining us on this journey over the last 5 years, and for taking the spirit of the STEMinar into your own institutions and workplaces to make STEM a better place.