Announcing the Shortlist for the 2023 Youth STEM Matters Volunteer Awards
Over the past year, 92 young people, based in almost 30 countries globally, have been part of the Youth STEM Matters Team. They lead our global scientific journal, Youth STEM Matters, and our third annual Youth STEM Matters Team Awards will recognise their achievements in 2022-23!
Members of the Youth STEM Matters Team submitted some fantastic nominations for members of the team they wanted these awards to recognise, and these were narrowed down by Interim Editor-In-Chief, Kimberly Anindo & Founder & CEO, Mhairi McCann. The winners will be announced live at the Youth STEM Matters Research Conference on Saturday 29th July, but for now, please join us in congratulating the members of our category shortlists…
Extra Mile Award
This award recognises someone who is consistently going over and above what their role asks of them in their contributions to Youth STEM Matters.
Iona Finney
Julia Gardiner
Lizzie Bourn
Luna Ramírez
Leader Award
This award recognises someone who has shown exceptional leadership at Youth STEM Matters. They do not necessarily need to hold a leadership role to be nominated for this award, as it recognises leadership in the broadest possible sense.
Kavina Uthayakumaran
Kimberly Anindo
Madeleine Perry
Safiya Liyawudeen
Inspiration Award
This award recognises the person who most impresses the rest of the Youth STEM Matters Team with their attitude and skills.
Abbie Fitzsimmons
Luis Ortega
Samiksha Manoharan
Shahed Debiat
Victor Olufemi
Mentor Award
This award recognises someone who has taken time to help others, and pass on their knowledge/skills. They can have done this in any format, whether 1-1 advice, group sessions, training or through helping others on Slack.
Anne-Rosa Bilal
Dimple Amitha Garuadapuri
Nina Khera
Shalini Sellam
Growth Award
This award recognises someone who has grown during their time on the Youth STEM Matters Team. Both personal growth and growth in skills are equally valid nomination reasons for this award.
James Duffy
Mahdia Mohseni
Mojolaoluwa Dada
Ruby Elliott
Changemaker of the Year Award
This award recognises someone who has driven positive change within the Youth STEM Matters Team. The change can be big or small, but through their efforts, the experience of authors and/or volunteers and/or readers has been enhanced.
Josh Heng
Research Editors
Samiksha Manoharan
Yara Obeidi
Unsung Hero
This award recognises someone who has made a valuable contribution to the team, but may not previously have been recognised for their efforts. This award is the chance to make sure they get the recognition they deserve!
Alice Cameron
Bryce Merrill
Izzy Johnson
Mathani Ahmed
Youth STEM Matters Champion
This award recognises someone who has made a substantial outreach contribution to Youth STEM Matters. They have embodied the journal's ethos and championed Youth STEM Matters. This recognition can be for any medium of outreach, including social media, events/talks, outreach to schools/organisations, and local outreach.
Anika Dugal
Diya Lalloo-McGurk & Olivia Johnson
Luis Ortega
Shahed Debiat & Madeleine Perry
Community Award
This award recognises someone who has made an excellent contribution to the Youth STEM Matters Team community. They play a key role in the team by driving forward the Youth STEM Matters community spirit.
Bryce Merrill
Jahnavi Giridhar
Nina Khera
Shahed Debiat
Rising Star Award
This award recognises someone who, based on their current contributions to the team, we can see even bigger things ahead in their future at Youth STEM Matters.
Alfie Davis
Emmanuel Randle
Luna Ramírez
Mahdia Mohseni
Safiya Liyawudeen
Yaren Yurt
Team of the Year
This award recognises a team within the journal who have made an exceptional collective contribution to Youth STEM Matters. The team may be a group who have worked together year-round, or a group of volunteers who came together over a shorter time period to work on a specific project.
2023 Research Conference Organisers: Alice Cameron, Anika Dugal, Luis Ortega, Mahdia Mohseni, Mojolaoluwa Dada & Shahed Debiat
Executive Team: Bryce Merrill, Iona Finney, Josh Heng, Kimberly Anindo, Victor Olufemi & Yara Obeidi
Kavina Uthayakumaran & Madeleine Perry
Operational Leads Action Learning Set: Dimple Amitha Garuadapuri, Izzy Johnson, Kavina Uthayakumaran, Luis Ortega, Luna Ramírez, Madeleine Perry, Ruby Elliott, Samiksha Manoharan & Shalini Sellam
Skills Development Power Up Graduates: Alice Cameron, Alys Jiménez, Diya Lalloo-McGurk, James Duffy, Mahdia Mohseni, Mojolaoluwa Dada, Ruby Elliott, Safiya Liyawudeen & Yaren Yurt
Transcribe-a-thon Team: 20+ volunteers, led by Kimberly Anindo & Josh Heng
Volunteer of the Year
This award recognises an exceptional team member, who has embodied the Youth STEM Matters ethos, and made an outstanding contribution to the journal. Unlike the other awards, the shortlist of nominees will be voted on by the entire Youth STEM Matters Team to decide the overall winner.
Emmanuel Randle
Iona Finney
Jahnavi Giridhar
Kavina Uthayakumaran
Kimberly Anindo
Luis Ortega
Madeleine Perry
Victor Olufemi
“The Youth STEM Matters Volunteer Awards always give us a chance to reflect on the collective and personal successes and growth of the team, and this year was especially significant with the changes the team has undergone in structure and operations. If anything though, that made it all the harder to narrow down all of the fantastic nominations submitted by members of the team, because so much outstanding work has been done over the past year. We’ve worked hard to recognise as many people, and different types of achievements, as possible, but regardless of whether you were shortlisted or not, I want to say a huge congratulations and thank you to everyone who has been part of the Youth STEM Matters Team this past year for your incredible work to give youth globally a platform to share their STEM research, ideas, innovations and voices.”
The winners of the Youth STEM Matters Volunteer Team Awards will be announced as part of the Youth STEM Matters Research Conference on 29th July.
