Three women have been named Britain's "brightest young scientists", each receiving £100,000 – the country's largest unrestricted prize for science.
On Tuesday night, Maxie Roessler, Thi Hoang Duong (Kelly) Nguyen, and Paola Pinilla were named the laureates of the 2026 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists at a ceremony recognising their advances and innovations in fields including DNA replication, energy transfer in electrons, and planet formation.
The awards, now in their ninth year, recognise early‑career breakthroughs with the potential to transform scientific understanding and address global challenges, and are for UK researchers aged under 42.
Selected from a pool of 91 nominees across 46 institutions, the three winners were chosen for exceptional achievements in the life sciences, chemical sciences, and physical sciences and engineering.
It is only the second time that all three top prizes have been awarded to women – a milestone celebrated at London’s historic Banqueting House, where the ceremony took place.
Dr Paola Pinilla of University College London received the physical sciences and engineering prize for research that helps resolve the conundrum of how planets form amid speeding clouds of swirling dust. By combining telescope observations with sophisticated modelling techniques, she has helped pinpoint newly recognised pressure points that allow planets to emerge in young solar systems and how water and life‑forming molecules take shape.
"We are trying to understand how planets form, and in particular the first steps of planet formation, to connect these to the diversity of exoplanets we see nowadays," she said.
"When I learned I was chosen to be the Blavatnik Awards in the UK laureate, I was very excited about being recognised for my work on planet formation, but very humble at the same time because I'm representing a large community that works very hard."
Dr Kelly Nguyen, from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, was recognised for groundbreaking work on telomerase, the enzyme that protects the ends of chromosome during cell division. Likening telomerase to the plastic ends which protect shoe-laces from fraying, her team produced the first atomic‑level model of the enzyme, offering crucial new insights into ageing, cancer, and potential therapeutic targets.
Receiving the award in the life sciences category, she said: "Doing science is a hobby. It's great being able to come to work and do your hobby everyday.
"It's great to be recognised for the science that we do, and it's testament to the hard work done, not just by me, but by everyone in the lab, because science is really teamwork."
In the chemical sciences category, Imperial College London’s Professor Maxie Roessler was honoured for pioneering techniques that revealed the fleeting, reactive electron states that underpin how cells generate energy, opening new avenues for catalyst design and functional materials.
"My favourite part of being a scientist is probably just the pursuit of knowledge and the possibility to discover something new that nobody has seen before," she said after learning she'd won the top prize.
"The tools we've developed to spy on unpaired electrons, or radicals, are now available to researchers around the world and are helping them to make discoveries in their respective fields. Being a Blavatnik Awards in the UK laureate is perhaps the biggest distinction one can receive at this career stage in the UK." She added: "I probably don't know yet what doors it will open for me!"
The awards were presented by University of Cambridge vice‑chancellor Deborah Prentice, who said the winners provide “grounds for optimism about the future of this country” adding that "current plans for growth in the UK economy rest heavily on science and technology."
Sir Leonard Blavatnik, founder of the Blavatnik Family Foundation, praised the winners’ “creativity and ambition,” while Professor Nicholas B Dirks, president of the New York Academy of Sciences, highlighted the significance of an all‑women cohort.
“Encouraging and supporting young scientists is essential if we are to successfully address society’s challenges,” Sir Leonard said. “By honouring these young individuals and their achievements, we are helping to promote the breakthroughs in science and technology that will define how our world will look over the next century.”
Professor Dirks said: "On behalf of The New York Academy of Sciences, we celebrate the representation and success of women in science and congratulate these winning laureates.”
Alongside the three winners six additional finalists received £30,000 each in recognition of their contributions to science in Britain.
Since the UK programme launched in 2017, the Blavatnik Awards have provided nearly £3.3m in funding to 73 rising scientists, supporting high‑risk, high‑reward research. By the end of 2026, the global awards programme will have distributed more than $20m (£14.8m) to over 500 scientists and engineers worldwide, the organisation said.
The awards are part of a wider programme of philanthropic giving by the Blavantik Family Foundation, which has contributed more than $1.3 billion to more than 250 institutions and charitable organisations over the past decade. These include a £75m donation to Oxford University to establish a school of government, £7.5m to the Friends of the Nations’ Libraries, and more than £20m to London’s Courtauld gallery.
Illegal gold mining surges into new parts of Peru’s Amazon, threatening rivers and lives
Experts find cats are not emotionally dependent on their owners
Police are finding suspects based on their online searches as courts weigh privacy concerns
Inside the Gorton and Denton by-election where anything could happen
Antiques dealer spots stolen Napoleon III plaques on 30-year-old episode of Lovejoy
Donald Trump says countries are ‘happy’ with tariffs as he vows to keep them
