Beyond the Usual Species: Cultivating Diversity in Biology Award Nominations

Improving diversity among award recipients is a key focus in the scientific community. The Society of Experimental Biology, which historically awarded over 65% of its prizes to men, established the Awards Nomination Taskforce in 2023 to proactively improve representation amongst its nominations and awardees in terms of both gender balance and underrepresented groups. The taskforce identifies and nominates scientists from diverse backgrounds, with nominations reviewed by an independent panel of judges. Here, we discuss the motivations and significance of forming such task forces alongside the outcomes of the first nominations in 2023-2024. From our first-year results, we conclude the activity of the task force was successful in recognising marginalised individuals and improving diversity among award recipients. We also highlight future goals for the task force and how its activities expand to the wider scientific community.