STEM outreach team wins prestigious Royal Society Athena Prize

Researchers from an outreach group at Northumbria University, which promotes opportunities for young people from all backgrounds to engage with the subjects of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), are celebrating after winning a prestigious Royal Society prize.

NUSTEM, led by Professor Carol Davenport, has been awarded the Royal Society Athena Prize 2026 for its work promoting equity in STEM and strengthening the research evidence base around effective STEM education and engagement.

The prize, announced today by the Royal Society, is awarded every two years to teams that have contributed to the advancement of diversity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics within their communities. Established in 2016, the Athena Prize was the Royal Society's first award to recognise diversity in STEM, with the aim of inspiring innovation and leadership. NUSTEM’s success follows previous winners the In2STEM Team in 2024 and the STEM Participation and Social Justice team at University College London's Institute of Education in 2022.

NUSTEM's award will be presented at a special event in November at the Royal Society in London.

Based in Northumbria University's Faculty of Science and Environment, NUSTEM has partnered with 48 primary schools and 20 secondary schools across the North East since 2014, alongside a wider network of schools across the UK that use its resources. Over that period the team has recorded more than 150,000 interactions with children and young people, and nearly 33,000 with teachers, parents and carers, and the broader STEM community.

The team works to give families positive experiences of STEM, develops resources and workshops that broaden children and young people's understanding of STEM careers and support the development of their ‘science identity’, and provides training and coaching to help teachers embed career-related learning in the curriculum. The team share the benefits and opportunities that working in science-related subjects can bring to inspire future generations of scientists and engineers and support efforts to diversify the sector. 

NUSTEM also supports companies and other STEM engagement organisations in developing their own outreach activities, including through its attributes-led approach to career-related learning, which has been adopted by organisations such as the British Science Association and the Science and Technology Facilities Council's (STFC) Public Engagement teams.

Reacting to news of the Athena Prize, Professor Carol Davenport said on behalf of the team: “The NUSTEM team is delighted to have our long-term work to support diversity in STEM recognised by the Royal Society. Our approach has always been to meld high-quality engagement practice with excellent research in the field of STEM engagement. Knowing that this approach has now been endorsed by the Royal Society is a strong encouragement to the team.”

The recognition from the Royal Society comes less that 12 months after the NUSTEM team were awarded the William Thomson, Lord Kelvin Medal and Prize for public engagement in physics by the Institute of Physics (IOP).

Professor Andy Shepherd, Interim Pro Vice-Chancellor for the Faculty of Science and Environment at Northumbria University, said: “This award is a wonderful recognition of NUSTEM’s sustained commitment to widening access to STEM. The team’s ability to combine rigorous research with genuinely effective engagement work has had a real impact on children, young people and teachers across the North East and beyond. I’m delighted the Royal Society has recognised what we’ve long known here at Northumbria – that NUSTEM’s work sets a benchmark for the sector.”

NUSTEM is one of 27 Royal Society medal and award winners announced today, alongside recipients including American molecular biologist, Professor Bonnie Bassler, who receives the Copley Medal, the world's oldest scientific prize. Previous Copley Medal recipients include Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking and Charles Darwin.

Sir Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society, said: “The recipients of this year's medals and awards have made exceptional contributions to science and research culture. Their work has helped further our understanding of the world around us and will inspire generations of scientists to come. Celebrating excellence in science is core to the Society's mission. I offer my congratulations to all the 2026 recipients.”

The Royal Society is a self-governing Fellowship of many of the world’s most distinguished scientists drawn from all areas of science, engineering, and medicine. The Society’s fundamental purpose, as it has been since its foundation in 1660, is to recognise, promote, and support excellence in science and to encourage the development and use of science for the benefit of humanity.

Visit nustem.uk to discover more about the work of NUSTEM at Northumbria University.