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 our Queer Science Competition (QSC), PRISM Exeter challenge 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 want to know whose life and/or work students find inspiring and why.
In 2022, 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 is displayed in the Trust's hospital library on its Wonford site in Exeter.
The competition entries capture the elements of people's stories which offer inspiration to young people - LGBTQ+ or not - and we have recognised their power to further inspire others - young and old.
Since June 2024, PRISM Exeter have worked to ensure a legacy of the QSC entries from 2020, 2022 and 2024. The results of this legacy project are due to be announced on November 7th 2025 at the headquarters of the Royal Society of Chemistry in Burlington House, London.
