Double success at STEM for Britain 2026

STEM for BRITAIN is a major scientific poster competition and exhibition which has been held in Parliament since 1997. Its aim is to give members of both Houses of Parliament an insight into the outstanding research work being undertaken in UK universities by early-career researchers. 

This year, the event was held at the Portcullis house in the Houses of Parliament, London in mid-March. Zoe Marshall and Dr Aniketh Bishnu were invited to attend as finalists in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences category. They presented their research to judges, attending MPs and members of science societies. Due to the diversity of the audience, the science had to be accessible to a lay audience.  

Zoe Marshall is a second year BARIToNE PhD student at the James Hutton Institute and presented a poster entitled ‘Using the ancient Scottish Bere barley landrace to genetically map manganese-use efficiency and improve nutrient use in British crops.’ 

Zoe said, “The event was a wonderful opportunity to gain experience in science communication, and it was inspiring to see the diversity of research being presented by early career scientists across the UK. I would encourage any other students or postdocs who are interested to apply for next year's event once applications open in September.” 

Dr Aniketh Bishnu is a postdoctoral researcher in Professor Ian Ganley’s lab in the MRC Protein Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Unit. He presented a poster entitled ‘Pharmacological activation of AMPK as a therapeutic approach for FBXL4-related encephalomyopathic Mitochondrial DNA Depletion Syndrome (MTDPS13)’ in which he described a potential new strategy to treat this devastating and currently incurable mitochondrial disease. 

Aniketh said “It was an honour to be selected as a finalist and to present my research at Portcullis House to MPs, leaders of scientific societies, and fellow scientists, alongside so many outstanding researchers. I’m delighted that our work is being so well received by such a diverse audience. I’m truly humbled by this award and would like to thank Prof. Ian Ganley for his continued support and guidance. I am also grateful for the excellent research facilities and environment provided by the MRC-PPU and the Faculty of Life Sciences. I would strongly encourage other researchers to take part in this fantastic opportunity in the future."

Each category gold award winner was invited to present their poster again online for the chance to win the Westminster medal. This was won by Ane Kritzinger, the Physics gold medal winner from the University of St Andrews. 

You can view all the category winners and their posters: https://stemforbritain.org.uk/stem-for-britain-winners-2026/