OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Awards 2023 (Prize of $5,000 USD)

OWSD Elsevier Foundation Awards 2023 Prize of 5000 USD

The OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Awards for Early Career Women Scientists in the Developing World call for applications is now open.

Things to note

  • All applications must be submitted online.
  • To assist you in your preparation, please review our application guidelines here.
  • English is the application’s primary language of communication.
  • If you are uploading any supporting papers (such a residency certificate or a degree certificate) that are not in English, you must provide both the scanned original and at least a loose translation into English.
  • English translation is needed for documents with other language

Eligibility for OWSD

The candidate must be a female scientist who has recently earned a PhD in a relevant field and whose ongoing research focuses on issues such as food security, agricultural productivity, and/or sustainable food production.

Applicants must show how their research advances knowledge in the areas of food security, agricultural productivity, and/or sustainable food production and helps to realize the SDG2 Zero Hunger.

The application may make mention of the SDG2 target areas, such as ensuring everyone has access to healthy food, eradicating all forms of malnutrition, doubling the productivity and income of small-scale food producers, implementing resilient agricultural practices, and preserving genetic diversity in food production, among others, but this is not required.

Women working in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics are also eligible for the OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Awards (STEM).

Applications from women in the humanities, social sciences, arts, or other fields are not acceptable.

Eligible STEM fields:

  • Agricultural Sciences
  • Astronomy, Space and Earth Sciences
  • Biological Systems and Organisms
  • Chemical Sciences
  • Computing and Information Technology
  • Engineering Sciences
  • Mathematical Sciences
  • Medical and Health Sciences (including Neurosciences)
  • Physics
  • Structural, Cell and Molecular Biology

It is acceptable to use any interdisciplinarity (i.e., combination) of these disciplines.

Furthermore, the applicant must have lived and worked in one of the 66 scientifically and technologically lagging countries (STLCs) listed above for at least 5 of the last 15 years:

Africa:

Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Arab Region: 

Djibouti, Palestine (West Bank & Gaza Strip), Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Yemen.

Asia & Pacific: 

Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Kiribati, Lao People’s Dem. Rep., Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Tuvalu, Vanuatu.

Latin America & Caribbean: 

Bolivia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay.

Please keep in mind:

  • Firstly,the five years in the qualified country do not have to be consecutive.
  • Also, applicants may be citizens of any nation as long as they meet the preceding residency requirements.
  • Candidates who have not previously received The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) or OWSD prizes, fellowships, or grants will be given preference.
  • Also keep in mind that these Awards are not open to OWSD Early Career Fellows or Alumnae.

If you have any questions about your eligibility, please email [email protected].

Prize for the OWSD

  • Firstly, a USD 5,000 cash reward is given out.
  • Also, all-expenses-paid trip to attend the Awards Ceremony at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting in March 2023.
  • Also, the travel will be finalized in the future months, depending on the global COVID-19 pandemic scenario; the awards ceremony may be held online.

The five awards will be divided as follows:

One for each of the developing world’s four areas (Africa, the Arab region, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean), plus a “floating” award for an outstanding candidate from any of these regions.

Applications

The 2023 awards application are being accepted from women scientists who have made significant contributions to food security, agricultural productivity, and sustainable food production, whose research is linked to the SDG2 (Zero Hunger), and have lived and worked in an eligible STLC for at least 5 years.

Include the below information:

  • Firstly, official proof demonstrating five years of residency in an eligible STLC.
  • Secondly, evidence of how your research contributes to the achievement of SDG2 (Zero Hunger).
  • Also, a 350-word biography explaining your road to becoming an accomplished scientist (for ease, we recommend that you prepare this beforehand and copy-paste into the text box)
  • PhD certificate
  • Curriculum vitae (CV)
  • Complete list of publications
  • At least two letters of recommendation (reference letters must be prepared on official letterhead and should be written and signed by senior scientists familiar with your research).

The deadline for applications for the 2023 awards is September 15, 2022.

Here are application guidelines and a sample application form.

Selection

  • A prominent panel of specialists in the relevant subjects who are aware of the obstacles that women scientists face in underdeveloped countries will judge the competition.
  • Due to the COVID 19 pandemic and the inability of face-to-face meetings since 2020, we have got the opportunity to draw on a bigger pool of expertise from the developing globe.
  • The OWSD Coordinator chairs the Selection Panel, which also receives full administrative support from the OWSD Secretariat.
  • Priority may be given to research that indicates the adoption of novel approaches or procedures (particularly in relation to sustainable development), an understanding of the importance of sex and/or gender considerations in research methodology and content, and/or multidisciplinary collaboration.

Successful candidates will be notified of their selection by December 31, 2022.

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