An exceptional ceremony to celebrate outstanding women scientists: 15 International Laureates and 30 Rising Talents

The past three years have been some of the most challenging for science in recent history. Women have been on the frontlines, addressing unparalleled issues related to climate change, disease, and health crises like the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite being essential to tackle today’s emergencies, female scientists are not yet sufficiently visible and numerous.

According to UNESCO recent data, the number of women pursuing scientific careers is increasing slightly, only one in three researchers is a woman globally.^[1] In the research world, the glass ceiling persists: just 14%^[2] of senior academic positions in Europe are held by women and just 4% of the Nobel prizes in science have been awarded to women.

Alexandra Palt, L’Oréal Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer and CEO of the Fondation L’Oréal, said: “During the COVID-19 pandemic we have seen how women scientists are essential to respond to existential threats to our health, to society, to the planet. But still they are invisibilized and often face tremendous obstacles during their careers and research studies. This situation is the result of systemic barriers, unconscious bias, self-censorship but also discrimination. This is not just a problem for women: this is a problem for research. To be relevant, research has to be inclusive and needs all its talents to be mobilized.”

According to Shamila Nair-Bedouelle, Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences of UNESCO: “Many of the rising female talents being celebrated this year are excelling in fields that will be vital to decarbonizing our future, such as energy storage systems, hydrogen fuel systems and quantum optics, a field of study which is paving the way for more energy-efficient computers. Yet many of their peers working in similarly strategic fields are not getting the recognition that they deserve. UNESCO, as the UN agency in charge of science, which has made gender equality a priority, is determined to act to put an end to these inequalities. The L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science partnership is a relevant example of positive action in this field, giving a voice and visibility to women scientists and to their achievements to meet the challenges of our century”.

Since its inception in 1998, the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science programme has honored and supported 3,900 women scientists. It continues to lobby for these women to receive the recognition that they deserve. These brilliant female researchers have contributed significantly to their respective scientific fields and to finding effective solutions to some of the most pressing and urgent challenges that we face as a global society. This year’s celebration will be a way to acclaim them for their life’s work and the many obstacles they have overcome.

• More details on the 45 women in science recognized (pdf)

LAUREATES 2022

LAUREATE FOR AFRICA AND THE ARAB STATES
Professor Agnès Binagwaho,
public health and pediatrics,
Professor of Pediatrics and Vice-Chancellor of Global Health Equity University, Kigali, Rwanda

LAUREATE FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
Professor Hailan Hu,
neuroscience,
Professor and Executive Director of the Neuroscience Center of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, China

LAUREATE FOR EUROPE
Professor Ángela Nieto,
embryology and biomedicine,
Professor at the Institute of Neuroscience (CSIC-UMH), San Juan de Alicante, Spain

LAUREATE FOR LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
Professor Maria Guzmán,
infectious diseases and virology,
Director of the Research Center of the Pedro Kouri Institute (IPK), Institute of Tropical Medicine, Havana, Cuba

LAUREATE FOR NORTH AMERICA
Professor Katalin Karikó,
biochemistry,
Adjunct Professor at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, United States of America, and Senior Vice President at BioNTech RNA Pharmaceuticals, Philadelphia, United States of America

LAUREATES 2021

LAUREATE FOR AFRICA AND THE ARAB STATES
Professor Catherine Ngila,
chemistry,
Acting Executive Director of the African Academy of Sciences, Former Deputy Vice Chancellor in charge of Academic and Student Affairs (DVC-AA) at Riara University, Kenya, and Visiting Professor of Applied Chemistry at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa

LAUREATE FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
Professor Kyoko Nozaki,
chemistry,
Professor of Chemistry at the University of Tokyo, Japan

LAUREATE FOR EUROPE
Professor Françoise Combes,
astrophysics,
Professor and Galaxies and Cosmology Chair at the Collège de France in Paris, and Astrophysicist at the Paris Observatory - PSL, France

LAUREATE FOR LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
Professor Alicia Dickenstein,
mathematics,
Professor of Mathematics at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina

LAUREATE FOR NORTH AMERICA
Professor Shafi Goldwasser,
computer science,
Director of the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing, Professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at University of California Berkeley, RSA Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, United States of America and Professor of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics at Weizmann Institute, Israel

LAUREATES 2020

LAUREATE FOR AFRICA AND THE ARAB STATES
Professor Abla Mehio Sibai,
medicine and health sciences,
Professor of Epidemiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Lebanon

LAUREATE FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
Doctor Firdausi Qadri,
biological sciences,
Senior Scientist, Head Mucosal Immunology and Vaccinology Unit, Infectious Diseases Division, International Center for Diarrhoeal Disease and Research, Dhaka, Bangladesh

LAUREATE FOR EUROPE
Professor Edith Heard, FRS,
biological sciences,
Director General of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany, Chair of Epigenetics and Cellular Memory at the Collège de France, Paris, France, and former Director of the Genetics and Developmental Biology Unit at the Institut Curie, Paris, France

LAUREATE FOR LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
Professor Esperanza Martínez-Romero,
ecology and environmental sciences,
Professor of Environmental Science at the Genomic Science Center, National University of Mexico, Mexico

LAUREATE FOR NORTH AMERICA
Professor Kristi Anseth,
biological sciences,
Distinguished Professor, Tisone Professor and Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Colorado, Boulder, United States of America

INTERNATIONAL RISING TALENTS 2022

AFRICA AND THE ARAB STATES

• Dr. Lina Dahabiyeh,
  BASIC MEDICINE, The University of Jordan, Jordan
• Dr. Ndeye Maty Ndiaye,
  MATERIAL ENGINEERING, Cheikh Anta Diop University, Dakar, Senegal
• Dr. Waad Saftly,
  PHYSICS, Al-Baath University, Syria

ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

• Dr. So Young Choi,
  INDUSTRIAL BIOTECHNOLOGY, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Republic of Korea
• Dr. Van Thi Thanh Ho,
  CHEMICAL ENGINEERING, Hochiminh City University of Natural Resources and Environment, Viet Nam
• Dr. Pantana Tor-ngern,
  EARTH & RELATED ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand

EUROPE

• Dr. Daphné Lemasquerier,
  PHYSICS, Institute for Non-Equilibrium Phenonema Research (IRPHE), CNRS, Aix-Marseille University, Ecole Centrale de Marseille; University of Texas at Austin, United States
• Dr. Natalia Bruno,
  PHYSICS, National Institute of Optics of the National Research Council, Italy
• Dr. Karolina Mikulska-Ruminska,
  PHYSICS, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Poland
• Dr. Ieva Plikusiene,
  CHEMISTRY, Vilnius University, Lithuania
• Dr. Beatriz Villarroel,
  PHYSICS, Stockholm University, Sweden
• Dr. Daria Smirnova,
  PHYSICS, Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian Federation

LATIN AMERICAN AND THE CARIBBEAN

• Dr. Maria Florencia Cayrol,
  BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, Institute of Biomedical Research - UCA - CONICET, Argentina
• Dr. Irene del Real,
  EARTH & RELATED ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES, Austral University, Chile

NORTH AMERICA

• Dr. Alison McAfee,
  BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, University of British Columbia and North Carolina State University, Canada

INTERNATIONAL RISING TALENTS 2020

AFRICA AND THE ARAB STATES

• Dr. Laura-Joy Boulos,
  FUNDAMENTAL MEDICINE, Institute of Applied and Human Neurosciences (INSAN), Saint-Joseph University, Beirut, Lebanon
• Dr. Nowsheen Goonoo,
  MATERIAL SCIENCES, BIOMATERIALS, Drug Delivery and Nanotechnology Unit, Centre for Biomedical and Biomaterials Research, University of Mauritius, Réduit, Mauritius
• Dr. Nouf Mahmoud,
  HEALTH SCIENCES, Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Technology Laboratory, Al-Zaytoonah University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan
• Dr. Georgina Nyawo,
  BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, Clinical Mycobacteriology & Epidemiology (CLIME), Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa

ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

• Dr. Rui Bai,
  BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, Structural Laboratory, Westlake University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
• Dr. Huanqian Loh,
  PHYSICS, Center for Quantum Technologies, National University of Singapore, Singapore
• Dr. Mikyung Shin,
  MEDICAL ENGINEERING, Nature-inspired Biomaterial Engineering Laboratory, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

EUROPE

• Dr. Vida Engmann,
  MATERIAL ENGINEERING, SDU NanoSYD, Mads Clausen Institute, University of Southern Denmark, Sønderborg, Denmark
• Dr. Serap Erkek,
  BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, Cancer Epigenomics Laboratory, Biomedicine and Genome Center, Izmir, Turkey
• Dr. Jennifer Garden,
  CHEMISTRY, School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
• Dr. Cristina Romera Castillo,
  BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, Marine Biogeochemistry Laboratory, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar, Barcelona, Spain
• Dr. Olena Vaneeva,
  MATHEMATICS, Department of Mathematical Physics, Institute of Mathematics of NAS of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine

LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

• Dr. Paula Giraldo-Gallo,
  PHYSICS, Quantum Materials Laboratory, Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia
• Dr. Patrícia Medeiros,
  BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, Laboratory of Biocultural Ecology, Conservation and Evolution Institution: Federal University of Alagoas, Maceió, Brazil

NORTH AMERICA

• Dr. Elizabeth Trembath-Reichert,
  BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, United States of America

The Fondation L’Oréal supports and empowers women to shape their future and make a difference in society, focusing on three major areas: scientific research and inclusive beauty and climate action.

Since 1998, the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science program has worked to empower more women scientists to overcome barriers to progression and participate in solving the great challenges of our time, for the benefit of all. For 24 years, it has supported more than 3,900 women researchers from over 110 countries, rewarding scientific excellence and inspiring younger generations of women to pursue science as a career.

Convinced that beauty contributes to the process of rebuilding lives, the Fondation L’Oréal helps vulnerable women to improve their self-esteem through free beauty and wellness treatments. It also enables underprivileged women to gain access to employment with dedicated vocational beauty training. On average, around 21,000 people have access to these free treatments every year and more than 27,000 people have taken part in professional beauty training, since the beginning of the program.

Finally, women are affected by persistent gender-based discrimination and inequalities, exacerbated by climate change. While they are on the frontline of the crisis, they remain under-represented in climate decision-making. The Women and Climate program of the Fondation L’Oréal supports, in particular, women who are developing climate action projects addressing the urgent climate crisis and raises awareness of the importance of gender-sensitive climate solutions.

Since its creation in 1945, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has worked to create the conditions for dialogue among civilizations, cultures, and peoples, based on respect for common values. UNESCO's mission is to use its unique expertise in education, science, culture, communication and information to contribute to the building of peace, the eradication of poverty, sustainable development, and intercultural dialogue. The Organization has two global priorities: Africa and gender equality.

UNESCO is the only UN specialized agency with a specific mandate in the sciences, symbolized by the "S" in its acronym. Through its science-related programs, UNESCO contributes to the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, helps developing countries build their scientific and technological capacities, and supports Member States in their efforts to develop science policies and programs. UNESCO also supports Member States in their efforts to develop effective public policies that integrate local and indigenous knowledge systems.

UNESCO promotes scientific research and expertise in developing countries. The Organization leads several intergovernmental programs on sustainable management of freshwater, ocean and terrestrial resources, biodiversity conservation, and the use of science to address climate change and reduce disaster risk.

Fondation L'Oréal

• Stéphanie CONSTANTIN
  stephanie.constantin@mtrchk.com
  +33 (0)6 65 57 83 36
• Chloé BASSILANA
  chloe.bassilana@mtrchk.com
  +33 (0)6 59 78 02 97
• Maxime DURIEZ
  maxime.duriez@mtrchk.com 
  +33 (0)6 86 74 71 12

UNESCO

• Clare O’Hagan
  c.o-hagan@unesco.org
  +33 (0) 1 45 68 17 29
• Thomas Mallard
  t.mallard@unesco.org
  +33 (0)1 45 68 22 93

Footnotes

[1] UNESCO Science Report: “the Race Against Time for Smarter Development”, UNESCO Publishing (2021)

[2] European Commission 2018 She figures report