Academic highlighted among the scientists making a difference to the planet and society

Professor Richard Thompson is among 47 people featured in a new book being distributed across the UK’s secondary schools

Academic highlighted among the scientists making a difference to the planet and society

Professor Richard Thompson is among 47 people featured in a new book being distributed across the UK’s secondary schools

Mr Alan Williams

Media and Communications Manager

Corporate Communications (Marketing and Communications)

10 September 2026

Professor Richard Thompson OBE FRS, Professor of Marine Biology at the University of Plymouth, is featured in a new book designed to introduce young people to the diverse, creative and extraordinary scientists who are helping to change the world.

Scientists Making a Difference has been compiled by science advocate, broadcaster and multi-award-winning engineer Dr Shini Somara, in collaboration with Imperial College London and The Gatsby Charitable Foundation. It is published by What on Earth! Books.

It is designed to showcase the world of science and the people behind it, and to demonstrate how young people can become part of the next generation of scientists and innovators.

Professor Thompson was invited to be part of the book in recognition of his work to highlight the accumulation, impacts and potential solutions to plastic pollution in our ocean.

In the book, he talks about his schooldays and his decision to go to university in his mid-20s to study Marine Biology, as well as focusing on how the breadth of what he learned continues to influence his career to this day.

When I enrolled to study marine biology at university, I never imagined it would lead to me spending much of my career investigating plastic pollution.

But the unexpected can be among the most exciting elements of a career in science – and you never quite know what you might discover and where that discovery could take you. By telling the story of my career journey in this book, in addition to highlighting some of my research findings and their impacts on policy and practice, I hope that perhaps I might encourage others to consider a career in science.

Professor Richard Thompson OBE FRS
Professor in Marine Biology

This latest acknowledgement comes after Professor Thompson was named by TIME magazine among its list of the world’s 100 most influential people of 2025.

He was also previously made an OBE for his services to marine science in the 2018 New Year’s Honours List, and was jointly awarded the Volvo Environment Prize in 2022 and the 2023 Blue Planet Prize.

Professor Richard Thompson OBE FRS, Professor of Marine Biology at the University of Plymouth, is featured in a new book titled Scientists Making a Difference

Scientists Making a Difference

What do scientists do and why do they do it? Author Dr Shini Somara goes straight to the scientists themselves – 47 of them – to find out, meeting apprentices, technicians, professors and entrepreneurs. Each scientist talks in their own words about their work – whether that’s growing human cells or testing medicines, building quantum computers of the future, tracking and protecting African wild dogs, searching for life beyond our Solar System, and much more. Every state-funded secondary school in the UK will receive two free copies of the book and a free school kit with lesson plans, teacher resources, posters and science timeline to bring the stories and facts to life in the classroom.

More information about the book, and further resources, is available on the dedicated website: www.scientists-making-a-difference.com.

Mr Alan Williams

Scientists Making a Difference

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