Gladiator and Powerlifting Champion Karenjeet Kaur Bains Joins V&A Innovate National Schools Challenge 2026-27 Judging Panel

The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) has officially announced that Karenjeet Kaur Bains, the trailblazing powerlifting champion and television personality known to millions as "Athena" on the hit show Gladiators, will serve as a distinguished judge for the upcoming V&A Innovate National Schools Challenge for the 2026-27 academic year. This appointment brings a unique fusion of high-performance athleticism, cultural advocacy, and creative problem-solving to the prestigious competition, which seeks to inspire the next generation of young designers and innovators across England.

Karenjeet Kaur Bains is widely celebrated not only for her physical prowess but for her commitment to breaking barriers. As the first British Sikh woman to represent Great Britain at both the European and World Powerlifting Championships, she has carved out a pioneering path in the sporting world. Beyond her competitive achievements, including securing a Commonwealth Powerlifting Championships junior title, she has dedicated herself to the empowerment of South Asian women through fitness. Her work as an online coach serves as a bridge between high-level physical training and the personal development of her clients, helping them to navigate and dismantle systemic obstacles in their own lives.

The V&A Innovate National Schools Challenge is an annual initiative designed to foster design thinking among students in years 7, 8, and 9. By challenging young people to address real-world problems through creative inquiry, the V&A aims to cultivate a sense of agency and civic responsibility. In her capacity as a judge, Bains will be tasked with reviewing student projects that align with this year’s core themes: "Simplify," "Empower," and "Nurture."

Reflecting on her new role, Bains expressed genuine enthusiasm for the upcoming challenge. She noted that her transition from the powerlifting platform and the Gladiators arena to the judging panel is a natural extension of her daily professional life. As an athlete, she explained, the mindset required to compete at an elite level—identifying weaknesses, refining techniques, and iterating solutions—is fundamentally identical to the process of design. She looks forward to witnessing how students apply these same analytical skills to tackle complex societal issues. Her goal for the competition is to encourage students to cultivate self-belief and to recognize that their ideas possess the inherent potential to drive meaningful change, regardless of their age or experience level.

The themes selected for this year’s challenge hold personal resonance for Bains. When asked to define "Simplify," "Empower," and "Nurture," she characterized them as essential components of creating a positive impact. To Bains, "Simplify" is the art of making the complex accessible, ensuring that solutions are both efficient and user-friendly. "Empower," she suggests, is about the provision of tools and the cultivation of confidence, enabling individuals to reach their maximum potential. "Nurture" speaks to the importance of the environment, advocating for spaces—whether in schools or in the workplace—that allow for continuous growth and development. Drawing on her own journey as a professional athlete, Bains emphasized that these pillars are not merely abstract concepts; they are the bedrock of success. She noted that having the right support system and the capacity for self-reflection has been vital to her own progress, and she believes these themes will serve as a poignant reminder to students that even the most modest of innovations can ripple outward to improve lives in significant ways.

The importance of design, in Bains’ view, transcends aesthetics. She argues that design is a functional necessity that dictates the quality of human life. In the context of her own sport, the precision engineering of equipment, the layout of training facilities, and the integration of new technologies are critical to maintaining performance, safety, and accessibility. She emphasizes that good design is deeply rooted in empathy—the ability to understand the specific needs of a user rather than focusing solely on the visual output of a project. By viewing design through this lens, students are encouraged to seek out solutions to problems that may not be immediately obvious, fostering a more thoughtful and human-centric approach to innovation.

When discussing the role of technology in her own life, Bains identified the smartphone as an indispensable tool for her professional ecosystem. As a coach, business owner, and media personality, she balances a wide array of roles that require constant connectivity. The smartphone acts as a mobile office, allowing her to manage her coaching business, communicate with clients across different time zones, track her training metrics, and generate content for her audience. For Bains, this device serves as a perfect real-world example of how innovation can simplify the logistical burden of daily life, thereby freeing up time and mental energy to focus on higher-level priorities and creative endeavors.

For the students currently embarking on their own V&A Innovate journey, Bains offers advice rooted in the resilience she has honed on the powerlifting circuit. She urges participants to embrace curiosity as their primary driver and to strip away the fear of failure. In her experience, the most transformative ideas often emerge from questioning the status quo and refusing to accept that established methods are the only way to achieve a result. She advises students to listen intently to their peers, noting that the diverse strengths within a team are often the greatest asset in the creative process.

Crucially, Bains cautions against the pursuit of perfection during the initial stages of a project. She encourages students to embrace an iterative cycle: test an idea, observe the results, analyze what failed, and adapt accordingly. This process of learning through trial and error is, in her view, the hallmark of both a great athlete and a great innovator. She emphasizes that one does not need to be an established expert to enact change; rather, the willingness to learn and the persistence to try again are the true catalysts for progress.

The V&A Innovate National Schools Challenge for 2026-27 is now officially open for registration. The program is tailored for student groups in years 7, 8, and 9 attending state schools across England. To support teachers and students as they navigate the complexities of the design process, the V&A has provided a comprehensive suite of resources, including a dedicated theme inspiration pack and detailed toolkits. These materials are designed to guide participants through the conceptualization, development, and submission phases of the challenge, ensuring that every student has the necessary support to bring their vision to fruition. As the competition moves forward, the involvement of figures like Karenjeet Kaur Bains underscores the museum’s commitment to bridging the gap between artistic exploration and practical, impactful problem-solving. Interested schools and student groups are encouraged to register through the official V&A website to begin their participation in this year’s challenge.