Life is award winning!

Life’s Chief Executive Linda Conlon joined an elite group of Fellows of the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC) in 2024.

Z King, an autism ambassador for Life Science Centre, was awarded the Association for Science and Discovery Centres’ Marsh Youth Voice Award in 2024.

Life is proud to be awarded the Deaf-friendly Bronze Standard from the National Deaf Children’s Society. Life met 19 criteria over 6 categories, including training and development, review, and plan.

Life was awarded ‘Best Collaboration’, recognising the partnerships forged across Newcastle and support for the city council’s Holiday Activity Fund, providing free healthy food and enriching activities throughout the summer.

In 2023, Life was independently rated best in England for visitor experience from global benchmarking company BVA BDRC.

The mystery visitors noted our “passionate and friendly staff” and “positively amazing live shows” as highlights.

Life won Gold in the Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Award category at the North East Tourism Awards 2023. The award category category specifically recognises those who make significant efforts to accommodate and welcome visitors with disabilities and additional needs, ensuring they have an enjoyable and comfortable experience.

In 2022, Life was awarded the VisitEngland Visitor Attraction Accolade, which celebrates the quality and diversity of visitor experiences on offer across the country. Life was one of fewer than 100 attractions to receive the ‘Welcome Accolade’, recognising our friendly and attentive team who consistently go over and beyond to deliver exceptional visitor experiences. In addition, Life received a ‘Quality Rose Marque’ for providing consistently high standards across all areas of the centre from exhibitions to catering.

Life is proud to be the first visitor attraction to ever receive the Gold Plus Standard from the North East Autism Society (NEAS). The award recognises the innovative partnership between Life and NEAS which has led to improvements in the visitor experience for autistic people, and increasing staff’s understanding of autism and neurodiversity through on-going specialist training.

We are proud recipients of the North East Better Health at Work Continuing Excellence Award. These awards were developed by workplace health specialists in the NHS with Public Health North East to foster health and wellbeing initiatives in the region’s workplaces. 

This nationally-acknowledged award is given to organisations who can demonstrate excellence in how they approach equality and diversity with employees, customers and stakeholders.

Life won the Ecsite 2022 Mariano Gago Responsible and Responsive Award, which was specifically created to reflect the response of Ecsite members to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Award recognised the partnership between Life and the North East Autism Society (NEAS) and their online support to the autistic community during this period.

We have signed up to the Family Arts Standards. We welcome families and to help you enjoy your experience we are committed to ensuring we meet these Standards. As we continue to improve our service for families your views are very important to us – so please let us know if you have a good experience with us or tell us what you’d like us to improve.

The Age-Friendly Standards are a national self-assessed accreditation for cultural organisations and a recognised and trusted symbol for older audiences and family groups including older people.

We value all generations and want to provide a welcoming and positive experience for visitors, regardless of their age.

Life Science Centre received this achievement in 2017, which is awarded to businesses who have consistently achieved glowing reviews on TripAdvisor.

The International Centre for Life has been awarded the Not for Profit Organisation of the Year 2016 at the North East Business Awards.

Designed to reward the efforts of North East businesses, the annual awards are sponsored by the North East Chamber of Commerce.

In 2016, Life was highly commended for the Ecsite Strategic Partnership Award, recognising extraordinary collaboration between Life and Northumbria University. The partnership served as the basis for a continuing programme of activity that reinforced Life’s mission to be the best place in the UK for enthusing and engaging everyone in science, and Northumbria University’s vision as a research based, business focused, and professional university with a global reputation for academic quality.

The International Centre for Life has achieved Industry Green certification in 2011/12 and is awarded 1 star in recognition of its commitment to managing its carbon footprint and improving its environmental impacts.

Industry Green certification is developed by Julie’s Bicycle for music, theatre and the wider creative industries. By achieving Industry Green certification the Centre for Life is joining the UK creative industries’ response to climate change and environmental sustainability.

Investing in Children (IiC) is a children’s human rights organisation working in partnership with children and young people to exercise their rights and participate in decisions that affect them.

Life has been recognised for listening and engaging children and young people in dialogue that has led to change.

The Roy L. Shafer Leading Edge Awards are presented annually to ASTC members and/or their employees in recognition of extraordinary accomplishments in Visitor Experience, Business Practice, and Leadership in the Field that not only enhance the performance of their own institutions but also significantly advance the mission of science centers and museums.