Dr Becky Parker MBE

A University of Sussex honorary graduate for 2017.

Becky Parker is a Director of the Institute for Research in Schools (IRIS) – a national charity based at the Science Museum in London. IRIS supports school students and teachers doing authentic research through a wide range of projects in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

Becky joined the University of Sussex in 1980 to study physics. She gained a first-class degree before continuing her studies at the University of Chicago.

She returned to the University of Sussex to take a PGCE before moving into various teaching and lecturing roles in secondary schools and at the University of Kent.

Inspired by the success of student-led research at the state school where she teaches, Becky decided to set up IRIS. The charity enables secondary schools to nurture young people’s ability to make scientific discoveries and to develop an aptitude for and interest in STEM subjects.

Since its launch in 2016, IRIS has expanded hugely, with over 350 schools registered and over a dozen genuine research opportunities on offer. It has received wide coverage – in Nature magazine, the TES and the Scientific23 – and has been presented at the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee.

Becky was awarded an MBE in 2008 and received Honorary Fellowship of the Institute of Physics in 2014. In the summer of 2016 she was awarded the Kavli Education Medal from the Royal Society.