
Inspiration and Resilience Award
Do you know a rising star who has managed to produce outstanding advances in their field, despite having to navigate logistical or funding challenges?
Introduced in 2022, the Inspiration and Resilience Award celebrates individuals who have achieved remarkable success in the molecular biosciences with modest resources, funding or opportunities.
Candidates must demonstrate outstanding promise and resilience. This may include newly established group leaders or researchers in the early stages of their first independent post at an institution with limited funding or access to facilities. This Award is open to all nationalities and the research can be carried out anywhere in the world.
Announcing our 2026 Award winners
Congratulations to Professor Shina Caroline Lynn Kamerlin (Georgia Institute of Technology and Lund University)!
Find out more about Lynn below
The recipient is given:
- A grant to attend a relevant event or training course
- A trophy
- The opportunity to present at a Society event or webinar
- The opportunity to be mentored by one of the Biochemical Society Journal’s Associate Editors
- An invitation to submit an article to one of our journals, with any fees waived
- The opportunity to be a guest editor of a themed issue of a Biochemical Society Journal, published by Portland Press
- The opportunity to join a Research Area or The Biochemist Editorial Board and help shape the Society’s content
Eligibility Criteria:
- Awarded annually
- Awarded to an outstanding individual who has achieved remarkable advances in their area considering limited resources, funding, or lack of opportunities available to them
- Nominees must demonstrate commitment to build, support, and nurture future talent
- Nominees would typically be early to mid-career
- Nominees can be either international or UK based
- This award is only open to individuals
The Awards Committee will consider the following aspects of all nominations for the Inspiration and Resilience Award as appropriate:
- Originality of research
- Impact of research
- Challenges overcome e.g., lack of resources, funding, equipment
- Quality of outputs – publications and/or patents and/or software
- Commitment to build, support, and nurture future talent e.g., mentorship
- Other indicators of esteem demonstrated by the nominator
Contact us
For further information please get in touch with the Awards department.
Related content
5 itemsRecipients
Shina Caroline Lynn Kamerlin
Shina Caroline Lynn Kamerlin

The Inspiration and Resilience Award will be presented to Professor Shina Caroline Lynn Kamerlin in 2026. Lynn Kamerlin obtained her PhD in chemistry from the University of Birmingham in 2005, followed by postdoctoral research in the laboratories of Stefan Boresch at the University of Vienna and Arieh Warshel at the University of Southern California, before joining the faculty of Uppsala University in 2011. She is currently a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar and the Vasser Wooley Chair of Molecular Design at the Georgia Institute of Technology, as well as a Lise Meitner Professor at Lund University. Her research focuses on understanding the role of conformational dynamics in protein evolution, and how this can be exploited to engineer novel proteins with tailored biocatalytic properties. In addition, she has engaged extensively in high-level science policy, in particular as relates to open science and researcher careers, and has served as a former Chair of the Young Academy of Europe, and a member of the executive council of the Protein Society. Finally, she has been deeply engaged in supporting women in science, widening participation in Europe, and promoting the careers of young scientists, including having organised several conferences and workshops on this topic, and acting as a co-author and signatory to the Bratislava Declaration of Young Researchers.
Lynn said: "Academic CVs rarely, if ever, carry the human stories underlying professional accomplishments. I have chosen to be open about my battles with infertility, and my experiences as a rare disease patient, to help others feel less alone. Because of that decision, receiving this award, which recognises those experiences, and their role in shaping my career beyond my visible professional accomplishments really means a lot to me. I hope the visibility this award provides me will bring encouragement and inspiration to each of you as you are navigating your own challenges on the paths that shape your scientific careers. Finally, on a personal level, in addition to the recognition, the most valuable part of this award to me is the opportunities it provides for me to give back to the society and contribute to our community.”
Daniel Carneiro Moreira
Daniel Carneiro Moreira

The inaugural Inspiration and Resilience Award will be presented to Dr Daniel Carneiro Moreira in 2025. Daniel Moreira earned his bachelor's in Biological Sciences (2011), Master's in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (2014), and Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (2017) at the University of Brasilia, Brazil. His doctoral thesis, "Redox metabolism adaptations to environmental extremes: mechanism, distribution, and occurrence of the 'Preparation for Oxidative Stress' phenomenon," received the Best Thesis Great Award (Life Sciences) from the university. In 2023, he was a junior postdoctoral researcher with external funding at i3S - Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, University of Porto, Portugal. Since 2016, he has held the position of Biologist at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Brasilia, where he assists senior researchers and leads his own research and outreach projects. As a biochemist fascinated by the “Unity in Diversity” principle in comparative biochemistry and physiology, Daniel’s research interests focus on understanding how animals, operating on the same basic cellular biochemistry as humans, are resilient to environmental conditions lethal to humans. His primary focus has been on redox biology, emphasizing the role of redox metabolism in cellular stress response and animal biochemical adaptations to extreme environmental conditions. This includes projects examining the modulation of antioxidant systems in animals under oxygen deprivation and during seasonal metabolic suppression states.
Daniel said: "Receiving the Inspiration and Resilience Award is an incredible honor that validates the work and perseverance behind my research in comparative biochemistry. As an early career researcher, receiving such an award enhances my visibility in the scientific community and supports the future development of my work. It not only acknowledges my efforts to conduct research with modest funding and against logistical challenges but also shines a light on the potential of emerging researchers in similar conditions, especially in the Global South."