Over 10 years ago, L’Oréal and UNESCO founded the For Women In Science Programme to promote and highlight the critical importance of ensuring greater participation of women in science.

Women in Science

A DECADE OF ACTION. FOR WOMEN. FOR SCIENCE.

The World needs Science and Science needs Women

Over 10 years ago, L’Oréal and UNESCO founded the For Women In Science Programme to promote and highlight the critical importance of ensuring greater participation of women in science.

Each year, the programme recognises the achievements of exceptional female scientists across the globe and awards them with fellowships to help further their research.

Since the programme was founded in 1998, over 700 women in 70 countries have been recognised for their research and received funding to further their careers.

There are three distinct tiers:

The Founding Awards[more information]

The founding L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women In Science Awards honour five leading researchers, one from each continent, with a prestigious laureate of up to US$100,000 in recognition of their groundbreaking achievements and contributions to scientific progress. The international structure of the programme ensures that the laureates are distributed among women who are working under a variety of conditions.

The L’Oréal-UNESCO International Fellowships[more information]

The L’Oréal-UNESCO Fellowships for Young Women in Life Sciences are run internationally and have awarded 120 promising female doctorate or post-doctorate scientists up to US$40,000 each, since their inauguration in 2000. Fifteen fellowships are awarded annually to help promising women scientists undertake research projects outside of their home countries in some of the world’s most prestigious laboratories.
For further information visit www.unesco.org.uk

National Fellowships[more information]

National fellowships, such as the UK and Ireland programme detailed below, run in 35 countries around the world. Each National fellowship programme helps women pursue their scientific careers and have, to date, enabled 340 women to continue their research. At the end of 2008, over 50 countries have established their own programmes.

The L’Oréal UK and Ireland Fellowships For Women in Science

The L’Oréal UK and Ireland Fellowships For Women in Science were launched in January 2007. The Fellowships are run in partnership with the UK National Commission for UNESCO, the Irish National Commission for UNESCO and the Royal Institution of Great Britain. Four fellowships are awarded annually to outstanding female postdoctoral researchers. Each worth £15,000 (equivalent € for candidates in Ireland), the Fellowships are tenable at any UK or Irish university / research institute to support a 12-month period of postdoctoral research in any area of the life or physical sciences.

The fellowships have been designed to provide practical help for the winners to undertake research in their chosen fields. For example, winners may chose to spend their fellowship on buying scientific equipment, paying for child care costs, or indeed what ever they may need to continue their research.

For information about previous UK and Ireland winners visit www.unesco.org.uk

Applications for the 2010 UK and Ireland Fellowship cycle open on 1 February 2010.

Women can bring a different dimension to science that has perhaps not been recognised over the course of history Baroness Susan Greenfield,
Chair of the Jury Panel

There have been many iconic females that have made important contributions to science over the past century such as Marie Curie, the first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize and Rosalind Franklin, who discovered the helical structure of DNA. Vote here for who you think is the Most Inspirational Woman in Science.