Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Prize Lecture
To recognise good practice in and/or an outstanding contribution to equality, diversity and inclusion
Nominations for the 2027 Microbiology Society Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Prize will open on Tuesday April 7 2026. The deadline for submissions is 14 June 2026. Details of the nomination process and award criteria can be found below.
- Award criteria and guidance
- Nomination information
- Previous winners of the Microbiology Society Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Prize
Award criteria and guidance
The Prize recognises those who have demonstrated good practice in and/or made outstanding contributions to initiatives that:
- Promote equality, diversity and inclusion in the microbiological community.
- Widen participation by those from historically marginalised communities by raising awareness of microbiology and inspiring the next generation of microbiologists to pursue microbiology careers.
Nominations could be activities or projects organised and delivered by an individual or a team, or a longer-term role model that either promotes equality, diversity, and inclusion in the microbiological community or widens participation by those from historically marginalised communities.
Criteria for considering nominations include:
- Innovation, originality and quality of the activity.
- Long-term champion of equality, diversity and inclusion, acting as a role model
- Evidence of evaluation of the initiative in
- achieving its aims
- reach into/engagement of desired audience from historically marginalised communities
- impact over time
The form will ask you to:
- Describe the nominated project/activity/role model
This section should refer to the rules and criteria for the Prize.
- Explain/describe the impact of the nominated activity/project/role model (including participant evaluation)
To what extent has the project/activity/role model promoted equality, diversity and inclusion in the microbiology community and/or increased participation by those from historically marginalised communities? What evidence is there for achieving the project aims; extending reach into or engaging the desired audience; and/or having an impact over time?
Nominations must also upload a concise CV to supplement this application. The CV should include publications and work relevant to the Prize. Please also include a statement acknowledging your understanding of the rules of the award scheme.
Nomination information
The deadline for submissions is 14 June 2026.
Nominations for the Prize are welcome from any member of the Microbiology Society, regardless of membership period or category. Nominees do not have to be members of the Society.
Please click the 'Nominate now' button below and log in to your MiSociety account to submit a nomination. You will need to enter some text into all mandatory fields before being able to save a draft of your nomination. Once saved, you will be able to return to edit it; however, once a nomination is submitted, it cannot be amended. You may therefore prefer to collaborate via an offline version and copy it across when ready for submission for ease.
The recipient of the Prize Lecture will receive £1,000 and be expected to give a lecture based on their research at the Microbiology Society's Annual Conference. They will also be strongly encouraged to publish the lecture in one of the Society’s journals, whichever is the most suitable. This decision will be at the discretion of the Editors of the journals.
Unsuccessful nominations will be reconsidered for a further two years, pending confirmation/update of the nomination by the nominators each year. If the period expires and the nomination remains unsuccessful, individuals may be nominated again after a one-year period. This is in place to protect the nominee, as they may wish to withdraw from the process. The Society office will contact you each year in order to update the nomination.
The Microbiology Society is committed to ensuring equal access to opportunities to participate in our activities, and therefore we are asking members who nominate our Prize Lectures to ensure their Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Questionnaire answers are up to date. While it is voluntary to disclose information about yourself, your responses will be instrumental in supporting us to make the Society more inclusive. All of your responses to this questionnaire will be treated as confidential, in line with our privacy policy and data protection laws. Any reporting of the data will be anonymised and will be used to monitor and review the diversity and inclusivity of the Society and its activities.
Previous winners of the Fleming Prize Lecture
Visit our Youtube channel playlist to watch previous Prize Lectures.