The Elsevier Awards for Early-Career Women Scientists in the Developing World are designed to promote and celebrate the achievements of women scientists in the early stages of their careers, with the objective of creating role models for girls to identify with and follow. The theme for 2017 is engineering and innovation.

Nominations for the 2017 awards will be accepted through 1 September 2016 for early-career women scientists working in engineering who have received their PhDs within the past 10 years and live in one of the 81 scientifically lagging countries as defined by the World Academy of Sciences for the advancement of science in developing countries (TWAS).

The awards were launched in 2012 by the Elsevier Foundation, TWAS, which operates under the administrative umbrella of UNESCO, and the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD), a network supported by UNESCO. Prizes are awarded annually on a rotating basis among the disciplines of life sciences, chemistry, engineering and physics/mathematics.

All nominations will be reviewed by a committee of eminent researchers who represent the five regions, including members of TWAS and OWSD, and chaired by OWSD President Jennifer Thompson. One winner from each region (Latin America and the Caribbean, the Arab region, Sub-Saharan Africa, Central and South Asia, and East and South-East Asia and the Pacific) will be announced in February 2017 at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Boston. The five winners will each receive a cash prize of US$5,000 and all-expenses paid attendance at the AAAS meeting. The winners will also receive one-year access to Elsevier's ScienceDirect and Scopus.

Engineering is essential for achieving the goals defined by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – in areas as diverse as energy and water, industrial development, and in building cities of the future. The 2017 Elsevier Foundation Awards will show us the excellent results women are achieving in engineering, and encourage women's future work in these fields.

• More information and nomination form
  Deadline: 1 September 2016