This Autumn, Pride in STEM are thrilled to announce that we are funding five Small Grants projects that have been submitted in our funding round. These five projects represent exciting new engagements with queer communities in and around STEM in the UK. The projects span the length and breadth of the UK and offer learning space for LGBTQ+ folks in STEM to build skills, places to play games and develop community, in addition to developing organisational strategies to support LGBTQ+ people in STEM fields, and give the opportunity to show how queer communities can be included in the just futures under the climate crisis.
To learn more about our five Small Grants projects, representatives of these projects will be at our LGBTQ+ in STEM evening at the Royal Institution on the 18th November 2024. Register to attend now and meet and hear them talk about their projects themselves!
We’ll also be keeping you up to date with the projects as they progress on our socials and newsletters, and we look forward to seeing the successes of each of these when we look back on the Small Grants in Summer 2025!
If you think that you’ve got an idea for Pride in STEM Small Grants, keep your eyes out for our next round in Summer 2025. If you’d like to partner with Pride in STEM to fund a small grant in a specific area of STEM, please be in touch with the trustees of Pride in STEM.
Science & Sorcery: Queer Communities Season
‘Science and Sorcery’ are an all-queer team of experienced science collaborators and performers who have been running online and in-person tabletop role playing games (TTRPG) shows (e.g. Dungeons and Dragons) since 2021. They will be using their Small Grant to organise and run three online TTRPG shows that incorporate both scientific and LGBTQ+ topics in the 2024-5 period. Pride in STEM is incredibly excited to support a group that delivers science communication, the discussion of LGBTQ+ rights and social justice issues in an unconventional TTRPG format – especially for those of us who have a love for gaming!
You can find out more about when Science and Sorcery will be hosting this programme online at: Twitter/X and Instagram: @sciandsorcery; and on TikTok: @scienceandsorcery.
British Ecological Society: Developing and implementing collaborative solutions to the intersectional barriers faced by minoritised ecologists
The British Ecological Society (BES) is home to six community led networks each focusing on a different marginalised group: REED (race and ethnicity), SEED (socio-economic and first generation), EDGE (gender), ALDER (LGBTQIA+), ENDEMIC (neurodiversity) and a newly establishing unnamed group (disability). BES, led by Karen Devine as Directors of Communities and Inclusion, will use the Small Grant to unite all six groups by hosting a series of four online panel discussions which address the intersectional barriers that ecologists can face. These discussions will be followed up by an in-person ‘changemakers’ workshop which attendees will use to make an action plan for change in the field. Pride in STEM is confident that BES will use these discussions and workshops to make impactful change amongst intersectional ecologists in the LGBTQIA+ community!
If you’d like to follow their work towards more equitable intersectional futures in ecology and see their action plan when it’s released, follow them on Twitter/X and Instagram at @BritishEcolSoc.
Code with Pride: An Introduction to Programming for LGBTQ+ Individuals
‘Code with Pride’ is an initiative led by Jonathan Browning which aims to introduce working class LGBTQ+ individuals to the fundamentals of programming through interactive workshops in partnership with Queen’s University Belfast School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science. These workshops will be supplemented with mentorship and support from experienced LGBTQ+ coding professionals, networking opportunities, additional learning resources and insight from guest speakers from various intersections of the field. As we work towards making the tech field more inclusive, Pride in STEM is happy to back an initiative which can empower LGBTQ+ folk who have little to no coding experience, and build more queer and trans representation and employment in coding careers!
If you want to keep an eye out on registration and attendance for these workshops in Belfast, follow along on social media: @qubeeecs on Instagram and Facebook, @qub_eeecs on TikTok, or through LinkedIn by searching for the company QUB-EEECS.
Wet & Wild: Queer Marine Ecologies
Queer marine experts Dr Emily May Zelia Armstrong (they/them) and Dr Russell Arnott (he/him) are collaborating on the ‘Wet & Wild: Queer Marine Ecologies’ project: an initiative where queer marine biology and ecology workshops in the Hebridies, Cornwall, and lecture in Cheltenham will take place, along with the creation of a Discord server to host a community of LGBTQIA+ “oceanically curious” folk. They hope to be creating The Queer Oceanic Creature Compendium, a collect-em-all card deck about the queer lives of ocean creatures later in 2025 from the project. Pride in STEM believes that this Small Grants funded initiative will challenge heteronormativity in marine science research, as well as strengthening an already existing network of LGBTQ+ marine enthusiasts who can partake in open minded conversations about marine ecology!
Keep your eyes out for workshops and get your flippers on their card decks by signing up on tinyurl.com/queermarine.
People’s Health Imagination Lab
The queer sci-fi collection Octavia’s Brood and queer activist-medical practitioners will collaborate on the ‘People’s Health Imagination Lab’: an action research meeting, led by Tej Adeleye and hosted by the Ella Roberta Foundation, which will be consolidated in the form of a digital visual ‘zine. The Ella Roberta Foundation was founded after a young Black girl called Ella Roberta passed away from a severe asthma attack in London and was the first person in the UK to have ‘air pollution’ listed as a cause of death. The ‘People’s Health Imagination Lab’ aims to address gaps in healthcare that are caused by climate change issues in the UK and to have a more open dialogue between informed doctors and concerned patients. Pride in STEM is happy to fund this project as the lack of urgency towards Black patients affected by the climate crisis in healthcare is explored and dissected.
If you’re interested in participating, or seeing the digital ‘zine as it comes out, keep in touch with the project by following: @tej_adeleye on Twitter or Instagram