British Science Association Trustee and university equalities practitioner, Kevin Coutinho, has been awarded an MBE in the 2025 King’s Birthday Honours.

Kevin has been appointed a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for his work in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI).

He is currently an EDI Consultant at London Metropolitan University, providing strategic advice on the institution’s inclusion work.

Kevin is the Chair of the Board of Trustees for Windsor Fellowship, a race equality and social justice charity that promotes education, citizenship and employability. He is an Independent Governor at Cardiff Metropolitan University, a School Governor at the Salvatorian College, his former secondary school, and an Adviser to the Faraday Institution.

In 2019 he was awarded The Guardian Public Service Leadership Excellence Award. 

His previous roles include Pro-Director, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Athena SWAN Manager at University College London, Head of Equality and Diversity at the University of Oxford, an Equality and Diversity Consultant at the University of Cambridge, and EDI lead at Birkbeck College.   

He was also a member of the Linnean Society Council, a member of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee of the Royal Society of Chemistry, co-chair of the League of European Universities EDI Policy Group and Co-Chair of the Higher Education Race Action Group, a sector-wide body that promotes race equality.

Kevin has sat on the Board of Trustees at the British Science Association since 2023. He is the charity’s Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Lead Trustee.

Hannah Russell, British Science Association CEO says:

I'm delighted that Kevin has been recognised in the King's Birthday Honours for his contribution and commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion. We are incredibly fortunate to have Kevin as our EDI lead trustee, serving as a valuable champion, catalyst, and critical friend for our work bringing together people and science, especially people from communities who often feel excluded from science - Kevin, on behalf of us all at the British Science Association, thank you and a very well-deserved congratulations!

Kevin Coutinho says:

It’s an honour to be recognised for the work that I have done. None of it would have been possible without the support of outstanding colleagues, friends and family who have a shared vision that our society needs to engage the talents and skills of all to really flourish.  In this respect, the BSA has striven to make science inclusive for all and I am proud to support our work to realise this.

Find out more about the British Science Association’s Board of Trustees here

This year's King's Birthday Honours also saw British Science Association Honorary Fellow and former Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Diversity & Inclusion in STEM, Chi Onwurah MP, made a Dame to recognise her work in Political and Public Service. 

Honorary Fellow and former British Science Association President Professor Jocelyn Bell Burnell has been appointed a Companion of Honour (CH) for services to Astronomy and Physics and to Diversity.