Awards for Women in Science
Canan Atilgan and Nur Mustafaoglu
It is now scientifically proven that many of us, regardless of gender, are biased to nominate a male colleague when it comes to an invited speaker slot at a conference we organize or to fill a prominent committee position. There is a wealth of manuscripts in the literature on this topic, please see e.g. [1]–[3] One great example of these research articles was published by Onur Varol's group at Sabanci University, which used data to show the negative impact of bias on women scientists, and this article also pointed out that women scientists are not credited and acknowledged as they deserve to be [4]. This is because we are at the bottom of mammals basically evolved to make spontaneous decisions based on our experiences that are embedded in our brains. While leader positions in science are still rarely held by minorities, including women, our minds wander to male colleagues, many of whom we have seen examples of during our education and careers. There are ways to circumvent this bias, primarily by avoiding hasty decisions and letting our slow minds [5] take over, giving them time to think about the many colleagues from diverse backgrounds who would be best suited for the position, who would diversify the field, etc. Although gender bias in science is a lifelong problem that needs to be solved, it is important to disentangle the facets that cause this bias, and there are some positive actions that can be taken by individuals, academic institutions, and society to eliminate these biases that affect the lives of many women researchers [6].
One of the gender biases we would like to highlight here is the fact that the number of awards received by women in science is significantly lower than that of men. Although the percentage of women receiving awards for their scientific achievements has steadily improved over the decades, women still receive far fewer awards and money than men [7]. Fortunately, there are some organizations working to recognize the work of women, to make their words and names heard, and to encourage other women to pursue science and research without abandoning it for any reason. Here we have listed some of these organizations and their programs for women in science, and highlighted two of them for you (to apply or nominate).
We hope that the day will come when the need for prizes for disadvantaged groups of any kind will no longer exist. Until that day, we encourage our female colleagues who are at various stages of their careers to apply for some of the awards and recognitions listed below, such as the L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science and Nature Awards for Inspiring Women in Science. Of course, we also encourage our male colleagues to nominate their female colleagues not only for these awards, but also for others that they definitely deserve. And we urge all our colleagues to make it a habit to look within themselves to identify their deeply buried biases and develop their own approaches to consciously eliminate them [8].
The L'Oréal-UNESCO Program for Women in Science was created in 1998 to spotlight women scientists doing exceptional research.
The L'Oréal Foundation was one of the first organizations to recognize this fact and also do something about it. By partnering with UNESCO in 1998 and establishing a prestigious award just for women, it was able to remove bias from the decision-making process. The original program was designed to recognize well-established women scientists. Each year, five women scientists, each representing a continent, are named laureates. Four of these women have received the Nobel Prize, and many others have been honored under a variety of prestigious programs. Ayşe Erzan of Istanbul Technical University is the 2003 European Laureate and, to date, the only female laureate from Turkey to receive this top prize.
The L'Oréal-UNESCO program for women in science recognized early on that it is much more difficult for women to rise to prominent positions. This is due to biases in grant award committees, childcare choices, and inequality in career advancement and/or salary, among other factors. Therefore, the Fellowship, now called International Rising Talents, was established in 2000 to support fifteen young women scientists who are conducting exemplary and promising research. In addition, regional programs were established in the early 2000s in many countries where L'Oréal and UNESCO are present. These programs mirror the international Rising Talents program at the local level and recognize young female scientists in their respective regions. Although the details of the awards vary in different countries, the spirit remains the same.
The Turkish program "L'Oréal-UNESCO Bilim Kadinlari Icin" awards four young women scientists each year, two in natural sciences and two in life and environmental sciences. The evaluation process is overseen by the UNESCO Turkey National Commission. It will not surprise you that we have several female faculty members at Sabanci University who have received this award. In addition, there are many female awardees who have been at our University at various stages of their careers, as undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, or researchers.
The Nature Awards for Inspiring Women in Science aim to celebrate and support the achievements of women in science in two categories: Scientific Outreach and Scientific Achievement.
This award also recognizes young women who work to encourage other girls and young women with STEM subjects such as science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine, and who work to ensure that women have careers throughout the world STEM.
Scientific Achievement Category: the awardee must have made a significant and demonstrable contribution to scientific discovery, potentially overcoming major personal or professional obstacles. The nominee must also demonstrate the ability to establish and lead an independent research group. They are also looking for individuals who have inspired the next generation of scientists or have advocated for the retention of women in STEM fields.
Science Outreach Category: The Nature Awards for Inspiring Women in Science - Science Outreach Category recognizes programs that encourage girls and young women to become interested in, enjoy, and pursue STEM disciplines, as well as programs that help women stay in STEM fields. These projects may be led by an individual, academic institution, educational institution, charity, government, or business. The activities should be part of a corporate social responsibility program and not primarily for commercial purposes if they are corporate.
| Award | Discipline | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Amelia Earhart Fellowship | Aerospace Engineering and Space Sciences | https://www.zonta.org/Web/Programs/Education/Amelia_Earhart_Fellowship |
| L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Young Talents Programmes | All | https://www.forwomeninscience.com/ |
| Nature Awards for Inspiring Women in Science | All | https://www.nature.com/collections/jcpghfmqlz/ |
| The OWSD - Elsevier Foundation Awards for Early Career Women Scientists in the Developing World | All | https://owsd.net/awards/awards |
| Schlumberger Foundation - Faculty for the future fellowships | All | https://www.slb.com/who-we-are/schlumberger-foundation |
| The Women in Technology Hall of Fame | All | https://witi.com/halloffame/ |
| Women of Discovery | All | http://www.wingsworldquest.org/fellows |
| VinFuture Prize for female innovators | All | https://vinfutureprize.org/ |
| FEBS | EMBO Women in Science Award | Biology | https://www.febs.org/our-activities/awards/febs-embo-women-in-science-award/ |
| FASEB’s Excellence in Science Awards | Biology | https://www.faseb.org/awards/excellence-in-science |
| Pearl Meister Greengard Prize | Biomedical | https://www.rockefeller.edu/greengard-prize/ |
| Margaret Oakley Dayhoff Award | Biophysics | https://www.biophysics.org/awards-funding/society-awards |
| WICB Junior Award for Excellence in Research | Cell Biology | https://www.ascb.org/award/women-in-cell-biology-awards/ |
| ACS Award for Encouraging Women Into Careers in the Chemical Sciences | Chemistry | https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/funding/awards/acs-award-for-encouraging-women-into-careers-in-the-chemical-sciences.html |
| ACM-W Scholarship for Attendance of Research Conferences Winners | Computer Science | https://women.acm.org/category/scholarships/ |
| PRACE Ada Lovelace Award | Computer Science | https://prace-ri.eu/about/prace-awards/prace-ada-lovelace-award/ |
| Young Woman Engineer of the Year (YWE) award | Electronic, Electrical or Mechanical engineering | https://youngwomenengineer.theiet.org/ |
| The Robin Copeland Memorial Fellowship | Global leadership | https://www.crdfglobal.org/what-we-do/women-in-science-security/ |
| Krieger-Nelson Prize | Mathematics | https://cms.math.ca/awards/krieger-nelson-prize/ |
| Society for Neuroscience - Honoring Support for Women | Neuroscience | https://www.sfn.org/initiatives/women-and-neuroscience |
References
[1] F. Trix and C. Psenka, “Exploring the color of glass: Letters of recommendation for female and male medical faculty,” Discourse Soc., vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 191–220, Jul. 2003.
[2] J. Huang, A. J. Gates, R. Sinatra, and A. L. Barabási, “Historical comparison of gender inequality in scientific careers across countries and disciplines,” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A., vol. 117, no. 9, pp. 4609–4616, Mar. 2020.
[3] C. Ni, E. Smith, H. Yuan, V. Larivière, and C. R. Sugimoto, “The gendered nature of authorship,” Sci. Adv., vol. 7, no. 36, Sep. 2021.
[4] O. C. Seckin and O. Varol, “Academic Support Network Reflects Doctoral Experience and Productivity,” Mar. 2022.
[5] D. Kahneman, Thinking, fast and slow. Macmillan, 2011.
[6] A. Llorens et al., “Gender bias in academia: A lifetime problem that needs solutions,” Neuron, vol. 109, no. 13, pp. 2047–2074, Jul. 2021.
[7] Y. Ma, D. F. M. Oliveira, T. K. Woodruff, and B. Uzzi, “Women who win prizes get less money and prestige,” Nat. 2021 5657739, vol. 565, no. 7739, pp. 287–288, Jan. 2019.
[8] A. U. Morgan, K. H. Chaiyachati, G. E. Weissman, and J. M. Liao, “Eliminating Gender-Based Bias in Academic Medicine: More Than Naming the ‘Elephant in the Room,’” J. Gen. Intern. Med. 2018 336, vol. 33, no. 6, pp. 966–968, Mar. 2018.