Queer Science Competition
You may have heard about the achievements and experiences of gay mathematician
Alan Turing: there’s a building
named after him at Exeter Science Park, a film made about his life
(The Imitation Game),
and he even features on the reverse of
polymer
Bank of England £50 notes! But why don’t we know more
Lesbian, Gay, Bi/Pan, Trans, Queer, Intersex and Asexual (LGBTQIA+) scientists,
technologists, engineers, mathematicians and medics?
Through the Queer Science Competition (QSC) 2024, PRISM Exeter - in partnership with the Intercom Trust, Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, and the University of Exeter - challenged secondary school, college, and university students across the South West to discover lesser-known LGBTQIA+ scientists, technologists, engineers, mathematicians and medics and celebrate them. We wanted to know whose life and/or work students found inspiring and why.
The competition entries were judged by a panel of PRISM Exeter coordinators, employed across the University of Exeter, the Met Office, the Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Exeter Science Park and TechExeter.
One overall winner received a cash prize of £100 and two overall runners-up each received a cash prize of £50. As the theme for LGBT+ History Month 2024 was “Medicine - #UnderTheScope”, PRISM Exeter teamed up with Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust to offer a special additional prize for the 2024 year’s competition. The highest ranked entry championing an LGBTQ+ medical professional received a work experience placement with the trust and had their entry transformed into a poster by local digital artist Jules Hoad, which was displayed in the Trust's hospital library on its Wonford site in Exeter.
