International For Women in Science Award Winners Revealed

The Fondation L’Oréal and UNESCO have revealed the winners of the 22nd International For Women in Science Awards, which honors five exceptional women scientists from diverse regions of the world. The women are awarded for the excellence of their work in the field of Life Sciences.
 
Each winner will receive €100,000 ($109199.50) and will be recognized alongside 15 talented young women scientists from across the world, at a ceremony on March 12^th 2020 at UNESCO House in Paris.
 
Since the creation of the For Women in Science program in 1998, 112 laureates and more than 3,300 talented young women scientists, including doctoral candidates and post-doctoral researchers in more than 118 countries have been honored and supported.
 
Globally, women continue to represent only 29% of researchers, according to UNSESCO. They are more numerous in certain disciplines, but the glass ceiling remains a reality within research as a whole. Meanwhile, men occupy 89% of senior academic posts in Europe, and only 3% of Nobel Prizes for Science have ever been awarded to women.
 
That is why every year, the Fondation L’Oréal and UNESCO celebrate the scientific excellence of 5 outstanding women researchers from diverse regions of the world. This year, the International L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in ScienceAwards will recognize women scientists in the field of Life Sciences: biotechnology, ecology, epigenetics, epidemiology and infectiology.
 
The 2020 Laureates
 
1. From Africa and The Arab States—Professor Abla Mehio Sibai—Awarded for her pioneering research and advocacy to improve healthy ageing in low- and middle-income countries and their impact on health and social policies and programs.
 
2. From Asia-Pacific—Doctor Firdausi Qadri—Awarded for her outstanding work to understand and prevent infectious diseases affecting children in developing countries, and promote early diagnosis and vaccination with global health impact.
 
3. From Europe—Professor Edith Heard Fellow of the Royal Society—Awarded for her fundamental discoveries of mechanisms governing epigenetic processes that allow mammals to regulate proper gene expression, which is essential for life.
 
4. From Latin America—Professor Esperanza Martínez-Romero—Awarded for her pioneering work on the use of environmentally friendly bacteria to support plant growth for increased agricultural productivity while reducing the use of chemical fertilizers.
 
5. From North America—Professor Kristi Anseth—Awarded for her outstanding contribution in converging engineering with biology to develop innovative biomaterials that help promote tissue regeneration and more effective delivery of drugs.
 
The 2020 International Rising Talents
 
Almost 260 talented young women scientists, doctoral candidates or post-doctoral researchers, are supported each year through the national and regional For Women in Science programs. Among them, the 15 most promising researchers have been selected to be honored next March 10th, at a ceremony at the French Academy of Sciences.
 
Africa and The Arab States

• Dr Laura-Joy Boulos – Neuroscience
• Dr Nowsheen Goonoo – Biomedicine
• Dr Nouf Mahmoud – Health Sciences
• Georgina Nyawo – Molecular Biology, Medical Microbiology

• Dr Rui Bai – Biological sciences
• Dr Huanqian Loh – Physics
• Dr Mikyung Shin – Biomaterials

• Dr Paula Giraldo-Gallo – Physics
• Dr Patrícia Medeiros – Biological sciences

• Dr Elizabeth Trembath-Reichert – Earth Science /Environmental Science

• Dr Vida Engmann – Material Engineering
• Dr Serap Erkek – Molecular biology / Epigenetics
• Dr Jennifer Garden – Chemistry
• Dr Cristina Romera Castillo – Marine sciences
• Dr Olena Vaneeva – Mathematics