Royal Society of Biology hosts best Biology Week to date
Date: 22 Oct 2025
The Royal Society of Biology recently hosted its 14th annual Biology Week – a week of bioscience events across the globe.
Biology Week 2025 featured 123 events and resources, 43% of which were organised by the RSB’s Member Organisations. These included competitions, talks, in-person and online events, and opportunities for building relationships with others in biology.
Highlights from the week
The week began with a forum for RSB Fellows which was hosted by RSB Chief Executive Dr Doug Brown FRSB and Director of Communications and Public Affairs Susie Rabin, providing an opportunity to engage with our Fellows.
We ran our #IAmABiologist campaign which saw people from different fields across the biosciences showcasing a day in the life of their work, from a horticulture entomologist to a health data innovation policy manager.
The fourth season of the popular A-Z of the Biosciences series was launched, starting with a video by the RSB’s Council member Professor Jeremy Pritchard FRSB.
The annual Biology Week Networking and Awards Ceremony was held at the House of Commons, London which saw awardees from our creative and careers competitions collect their awards. Speeches were given by the Minister for Nature and the Viscount Stansgate among others, and there was ample opportunity for networking with people from across the bioscience community.
A new version of our popular Memory Game was also devised for this year.
Apprentice of the Year Group 1 winner Tamara Martinez AMRSB
STEM webinar
This year’s STEM webinar, aimed at 11-19 year-olds, was chaired by Leah McClure FRSB and covered immunology, biotechnology, and deep-sea exploration, followed by a Q&A. This year’s talk was attended by 300 schools and individuals.
Dr Donald Palmer FRSB, Associate Professor of Immunology at the Royal Veterinary College, gave the first talk – titled “Why snot is good” – on the human body’s functional immunity and the barriers used to keep pathogens out.
Professor Diane Purchase CBiol FRSB, Professor of Environmental Biotechnology at Middlesex University London, focused her talk on the ground-breaking ways biotechnology is being used to tackle issues of pollution and e-waste through the use of fungi and microbes.
The final talk of the session was delivered by Professor Jon Copley, Associate Professor of Ocean Exploration and Public Engagement at the University of Southampton. Jon’s talk covered his work on deep sea exploration, the concerns around deep-sea mining, and the discovery of the endangered scaly-foot snail from which we are learning how to make better solar panels. A character in the upcoming season of the BBC cartoon Octonauts will be based on this particular snail.
RSB member-exclusive talk
This year’s keynote talk, exclusively for RSB members with over 200 tuning in, was given by Baroness Black of Strome OBE Hon FRSB on forensic anthropology.
Professor Lady Black spoke specifically about the intersection of science and the law, focusing on the role of forensics, its research, and impact. She demonstrated how she created a database mapping vein patterns in arms and feet and how this is being applied as a strong and reliable means of evidence and identification in court cases. The session concluded with an insightful Q&A.
Spelling Bee competition
This year’s Spelling Bee, organised by Jon Hale, Head of Biology at Bromsgrove School, Worcestershire saw 288 schools taking part, with most of the schools running it this year as a whole-school event.
The Biology Week 2025 National Spelling Bee winners were:
- Year 7: Luke of Wixams Academy, Bedfordshire
- Year 8: Nithara of Queen Elizabeth’s High School, Lincolnshire
- Year 9: Amir of Cheam High School, London
- Year 10: Luca of Cheam High School, London
- Year 11: Elizabeth of Withington Girls' School, Manchester
- Year 12: Sophia of Dromore High School, County Down, Northern Ireland
- Year 13: Zoe of Cheam High School, London
A special mention goes to Sophia for achieving the highest score in the finals: 54 correctly spelled words in two minutes.
A trip to Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
In line with the RSB’s Plant Health initiatives, a visit to Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh was organised during Biology Week. It was a great day of talks by Dr Tia Salter, Pete Hollingsworth, Harry Watkins, and Itxaso Quintana, as well as interesting tours from Dr Matt Elliot and Fiona Inches. The tours centred around glasshouses that have been closed for renovation, learning about the processes needed to keep plants safe, and exploring behind the scenes in the biosecurity quarantine units and plant nurseries, learning how new plants and old plants are handled. There were also opportunities to ask questions and network.
Ways to still get involved
Biology Week may be over for another year, but there are ways to still get involved with the Society’s work:
- Travel grants are available to RSB members to support the costs of biological study, teaching, and research
- The BioCraft competition is open for entries for participants to create a biology-inspired 3D artwork until 12 November 2025
- STEM for BRITAIN, a poster competition for early career researchers, supported by the RSB, is currently accepting applications to present their work in Parliament until 24 November 2025