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Neurodiversity Celebration Week
Date: 17 Mar 2026
At the Royal Society of Biology (RSB), we acknowledge the importance of equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) at all learning and career stages. We believe an inclusive scientific community enriches our field by bringing together a wide range of experiences, skills, ways of thinking, and perspectives.
In recent years, we’ve worked closely with our community to challenge misconceptions about neurological differences, celebrate the unique talents of neurodivergent people, and champion cultures where everyone can thrive.
This Neurodiversity Celebration Week (16 — 20 March), we’re excited to spotlight the voices and stories of three RSB members, from Associate to Fellow, who are navigating the biosciences at different stages of their careers. Through their reflections, we aim to amplify lived experience, recognise ongoing challenges, and explore meaningful, practical steps toward a more inclusive future for all.
Please note that the views and opinions expressed are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Royal Society of Biology.
Oscar Falconer AMRSB, PhD Student
Diagnosed with high functioning Asperger’s as a teenager, I struggled with conventional school, finding it slow, restrictive, and unchallenging. I saw science as an interconnected web of disciplines rather than isolated strands and believed relevant information from one discipline should not be omitted when discussing another. Suffice to say this didn’t lend itself to contemporary schooling where it felt like any information outside the marking scheme is deemed irrelevant and a waste of time.
Instead, I pursued an alternative educational route, and chose to go straight to the Open University, receiving a first-class degree in BSc (Honours) Natural Science (Biology). Studying online let me work anywhere anytime, allowing extracurricular supplementation with various internship/training programmes. Examples included coral reef surveys in the Seychelles and monitoring hantavirus infection in riverbank voles in Finnish Taiga forests. This 'divergent' educational route enabled a 'divergent' approach to student research. It provided the confidence and experience to devise, organise, and communicate novel self-generated projects during both my MSc in Evolutionary and Behavioural Ecology at the University of Exeter (a laboratory-based project investigating how earthworms influence and shape the soil microbiome's composition and functional traits), and my PhD (designing new devices for field-sampling soil fauna in situ to monitor community structure and ecological functioning). This now constitutes an expanding project with international collaborations including with IFCN Madeira and the Natural History Museum.
Neurodivergence often produces images of introverted machine-like individuals. However, neurodivergence can also encourage 'divergent' methods of communicating research. For example, I love incorporating artistic imagery and storytelling to allow both 'professors and punters' to engage with my research. I am also privileged to apply this approach to the wider research environment by writing a regular 'Did you see?' feature for Mensa’s award-winning magazine IQ, distilling new research into accessible summaries.
I hope this provides a brief example of why neurodivergence should be viewed as a resource to be harnessed rather than a need to be catered for.
Dr Natalie Lamb RSci MIWater MRSB, Senior Manager for Sector Intelligence at Spring
I am neurodivergent, and for me that primarily presents as dyslexia, particularly affecting my working memory and relationship with numbers. What does this mean? I struggle with 24-hour timings, the three times table is a mystery to me, and spellcheckers are a permanent feature of my working life. Earlier in my career, this affected my confidence. I was the first in my family to go to university and, at 18, I had never even heard of a PhD, let alone imagined completing one in Civil Engineering and Microbiology.
Neurodiversity has undeniably shaped my career. At times, it has made things more challenging. Exams required more effort, being in the right place at the right time seemed near impossible, and I had to develop coping strategies that others didn’t seem to need. But it has also given me strengths that are central to the work I do today as Senior Manager for Sector Intelligence at Spring. I think systemically and creatively, I see connections across complex challenges, and I instinctively translate technical detail into clear, accessible language. In a role that relies on identifying patterns across the UK and Ireland water sector, aligning people around shared innovation goals, and communicating complexity with clarity, those strengths are invaluable.
Understanding my neurodiversity was the turning point. With the right support, I learned that my brain simply works differently, not incorrectly, and not slowly. I now use structure, preparation, and technology to manage the areas I find challenging, and I consciously lean into the strengths it gives me.
That perspective has also shaped my voluntary work to improve inclusivity across science and the water sector. I served as Chair of the Royal Society of Biology East Midlands for over seven years, and I currently volunteer with the International Water Association, representing Young Water Professionals as Chair of the UK globally. Creating environments where different ways of thinking are recognised and valued is something I care deeply about, because I know firsthand the difference that understanding and support can make.
I may still bamboozle a spellchecker, but I sign my name as Dr Natalie Lamb — and I’m proud of that.
Dr William A Ritchie FRSB, embryologist
I am dyslexic which means that I struggled at school. My exam results meant that I could not go on and study a science course at university, but I gained a Higher National Diploma in Agriculture because I did not require English for this very practical course.
I took a job as a Farm Research Assistant at the Animal Breeding Research Organisation which eventually became the Roslin Institute. I took Higher English at night school but only managed a further O level. However, I then discovered the Open University, where I could go at my own speed, and over a period of around 10 years gained an Honours degree.
I moved to the Field Laboratory at Roslin and trained as a large animal anaesthetist, but when cloning equipment became available, I was invited by Sir Ian Wilmut to try my hand at nuclear transfer. I was very successful at the practical aspects of cloning, and cloned my first lamb in 1993. I developed the techniques to produce the first cloned lambs from cultured cells in 1995, and the following year we produced Dolly and six other cloned lambs. We produced transgenic clones and knockout clones the following years, and even produced one of the first cloned piglets in the world. I also produced many transgenic animals by different methods.
I requested to carry out a PhD by publication at The University of Edinburgh but this was refused. A friend encouraged me to spend some time in Hungary, and I was successful in gaining my PhD by publication there. After I left the Roslin Institute, I also acted as consultant for the first cloned camel in Dubai, and taught scientists in Nairobi, which resulted in the first clone of a native breed of cattle in Kenya.
It probably takes me three times longer to read and understand scientific papers but, given time and determination, I get there in the end.
Natalie Lamb, Oscar Falconer, William Ritchie
Supporting neurodiversity in bioscience
We all think, learn, process, and communicate in our own unique ways. Yet, as our members have shared, the structures around us, for example in education and the workplace, don’t always reflect or accommodate this diversity.
At the RSB, we will continue to champion and support neurodiversity in bioscience. We recognise that truly inclusive environments require a deeper understanding of the many ways people process information and contribute.
There is still work to do, but by acknowledging this complexity and designing systems that support all minds, we can ensure everyone has the opportunity to thrive, succeed, and help drive forward the advancement of biological knowledge.