The Queen’s Anniversary Prizes celebrate UK colleges and universities that deliver excellence, innovation and public benefit through their education and training.
Run by the Royal Anniversary Trust, an independent charity, the prizes are awarded by the monarch every two years.
The University of Reading has been honoured with the award, the highest national prize for a UK institution in higher and further education, on five separate occasions:
These multiple awards demonstrate the consistent quality of our work across a range of disciplines, and highlight the benefits of our research to the wider community.
Our most recent success, in 2021, outlined the outstanding work of the University’s meteorologists, climate scientists, hydrologists, ecologists, soil scientists, and big data specialists.
The award celebrated our cross-disciplinary work on the impact of climate change and how we can adapt to it.
"It was a great honour for the whole University to win this award, which reflects the work being done by everyone across our institution to fight climate change.”
Professor Robert Van de Noort, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Reading
By working with schools, community groups and the media, our academics are helping people to understand and engage with climate science. Our nomination to the awards committee also highlighted how our climate expertise has benefitted the wider world, contributing to:
Learn more about Connecting Communities with Climate Change
We are in the process of finalising our postgraduate taught courses for 2026/27 entry. In the meantime, you can view our 2025/26 courses.
