Three women named Britain’s Brightest Young Scientists

Three women have been named winners of the UK young scientist awards, the country’s largest unrestricted prize for young researchers, marking only the second time all laureates have been female.

Thi Hoang Duong (Kelly) Nguyen, Maxie M. Roessler and Paola Pinilla each received £100,000 at a ceremony held at Banqueting House in London on 24 February 2026.

The remaining six finalists were awarded £30,000 each.

The winners were selected from nine finalists and a wider field of 91 nominees drawn from 46 academic and research institutions across the UK.

An independent jury chose one laureate in each of three categories: life sciences, chemical sciences, and physical sciences and engineering.

Nicholas B. Dirks is president and chief executive of The New York Academy of Sciences and chair of the awards’ scientific advisory council.

Dirks said: “This is a remarkable group of laureates whose work reflects both scientific brilliance and real-world impact.

“Notably, this marks the second time in the history of the Blavatnik Awards in the United Kingdom that all three laureates are women scientists.

“On behalf of The New York Academy of Sciences, we celebrate the representation and success of women in science and congratulate these winning laureates.”

Nguyen, a molecular biologist at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, was recognised for research into telomerase, an enzyme that helps protect the ends of chromosomes during cell division.

Her work sheds light on how disruptions in telomerase activity are linked to premature ageing and cancer.

She used cryo-electron microscopy, a technique that allows scientists to visualise biological structures at extremely high resolution, to produce the first atomic-level model of the enzyme.

Roessler, a bioinorganic chemist at Imperial College London, was recognised for developing new methods that reveal how cells generate energy through rapid electron transfer.

Her findings could inform future work on catalysts and the development of new functional materials.

Pinilla, an astrophysicist at University College London, was recognised for research into how planets form.

Using telescope data and computer modelling, she identified structures in protoplanetary discs, rings of gas and dust around young stars, that trap dust and support planet formation.

Sir Leonard Blavatnik, founder of Access Industries and the Blavatnik Family Foundation, said: “The exceptional talent celebrated through these awards reflects the creativity and ambition that continue to place the UK at the forefront of scientific advancement.

“It is a privilege to recognise their work and to support the next stage of their scientific journeys.”

The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists are open to UK-based researchers aged 42 or under.

Now in their ninth year in the UK, the awards also run parallel programmes in the US and Israel.

Since launching in the UK in 2017, 73 honourees have received nearly £3.3m in prize funding.

By the end of 2026, the awards are expected to have distributed more than US$20m to over 500 scientists and engineers worldwide.