Science & Innovation

Science and innovation impacts our daily lives, from the technology we use to developments in healthcare, as well as helping us to address global challenges such as climate change and access to clean energy.

Diverse teams are essential for the development of solutions which benefit everyone, yet we might often struggle to name LGBT+ scientists and innovators. The 2026 theme for LGBT+ History Month aims to highlight the contributions of LGBT+ people historically and today, and to raise awareness of the people behind them. 

Alongside celebrating LGBT+ people, it is important to highlight the harm that LGBT+ people have historically faced as a result of the ways in which science has been explored and misapplied in the past, such as through the medicalisation and pathologisation of LGBT+ identities, and how we still need to address this today. 

Each year we choose five LGBT+ historical figures in line with the theme to highlight. This year we have chosen:

• Barbara Burford, a medical researcher who established NHS equality and diversity guidelines
• Charles Beyer, a locomotive engineer and a founding member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers
• Elke Mackenzie, a botanist who researched lichens in Antarctica
• Jemma Redmond, a biotechnologist who developed 3D bioprinters to create tissues and organs
• Robert Boyle, a founder of modern chemistry and of the modern scientific method.

Find out more here.