Awards to Honor Women Scientists from 5 Low-Resource Regions

Women in developing countries talk about the obstacles they face and why this recognition is important
Oct 2, 2012 10:50 AM ET

Awards to honor women scientists

Succeeding in the competitive world of science is challenging under the best of circumstances. But women scientists in countries with scarce resources and competing cultural expectations face significant additional obstacles as they strive to excel at careers in science. 

A new awards program takes those factors into account by recognizing the research excellence of early-career women scientists from 81 developing countries.

The program is run by TWAS, the academy of sciences for the developing world, the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) and the Elsevier Foundation.   read more   Nominations for 2012 awards  

The 2012 awards focus on the life sciences. Nominations will be accepted through October 15. To qualify, nominees must have received their doctoral degree within the previous 10 years and come from one of 81 nations in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

A committee of top life scientists from the designated five regions will review the nominations and select the winners based on the quality of their research. Each winner will receive a cash prize of US $5,000 and reimbursement for the cost of attending the annual American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) conference in February 2013 in Boston. In addition, Elsevier will provide one year of access to ScienceDirect.

Here is the official announcement and nomination form.