Microbiology Outreach Prize

The Microbiology Outreach Prize is awarded for an outstanding outreach initiative. Nominations of individuals or teams delivering the outreach initiative are invited and will be reviewed, alongside nominations for Prize Lectures, by an appointed Prize Award Panel chaired by the General Secretary.

The team or individual responsible for the winning initiative will receive £500 and will be invited to deliver a talk or demonstration of their activities at the Annual Society Showcase in September each year.

How to nominate

To nominate a team or individual, please complete the form available on this page. The form will only be available while nominations are open. You may find it useful to find out about past winners for inspiration. If you have any questions or queries, please contact us via email: [email protected].

Focus of activities could be:

• Raising public awareness of microbiology and its impact on our lives.
• Enthusing students (at primary and secondary school level) about microbiology.
• Engaging an audience in discussion of the impact of microbiology on society.
• Exploring the social and ethical aspects related to an aspect of microbiology research.

For any questions, please contact [email protected].

Award process

Nominations for the Microbiology Outreach Prize are reviewed by the Prize Award Panel, which is chaired by the General Secretary. The panel considers the nominations against the following criteria. All nominators are then notified of the outcome and the successful nominee is invited to present at the AGM and Society Showcase or other relevant event.

Criteria for consideration of nominations

• Innovation, originality and quality of the project.
• Sustained impact over time.
• Evidence of evaluation of the initiative, in particular in any of the following areas:
  • How/if the target audience’s appreciation of the value of microbiology has increased;
  • If the public's ability to assimilate information on microbiology and related issues in an informed and accurate manner has been enhanced;
  • If the target audience’s appreciation of the value of studying biological sciences/microbiology at school level and beyond has increased;
  • If the target audience now thinks differently about the microbiological issue being presented.

Rules for the Microbiology Outreach Prize

1. Nominations are invited for outstanding microbiology outreach initiatives. These could be projects organised and delivered by an individual or a team that effectively communicate a microbiological issue to the general public.
2. Nominees may be at any stage of their career.
3. The outreach initiative can be aimed at audiences of any age but should not be those directly related to undergraduate recruitment – for example a university open day.
4. At least one example of the nominated outreach initiative should have been delivered in the two years preceding nomination.
5. Nominations must be made on the appropriate form which will be available on this page while nominations are open.
6. As our data show that 45% of our members are women and 55% are men, we expect that where activities are drawing from our community, those involved will show fair gender representation. In order to inform you of the wider composition of the community, we have also provided data on the proportion of the membership which identifies as from a minority ethnic group, and those who disclose a known disability or impairment.

2023	Kim Hardie
2022	Kalai Mathee and Jonathan Tyrell
2021	Edward Hutchinson
2020	Sreyashi Basu and Sanjib Bhakta
2019	Matt Hutchings
2018	Senga Robertson-Albertyn
2017	No award made
2016	Laura Piddock
2015	Adam Roberts
2014	Joana Alves Moscoso
2013	James Redfern, Helen Brown (joint)
2012	Marieke Hoeve
2011	Nicola Stanley-Wall
2010	Gemma Walton
2009	Jo Heaton