Nature Awards Inspiring Women in Science 2026 ($50,000 prize) – YOA

Deadline: April 8, 2026

Applications are open for the Nature Awards Inspiring Women in Science 2026. The Inspiring Women in Science awards have fun and help the achievements of ladies in science, and all those that work to encourage ladies and younger girls to interact with STEM topics and keep in STEM careers all over the world.

They invite functions in two award classes — Science Outreach and Scientific Achievement.

Benefits

The winners of the Nature Awards for Inspiring Women in Science will obtain:

• A prize of US$50,000
• An invitation to the award ceremony in London or New York, with lodging and journey bills paid by the organiser.
• Coverage on nature.com 
• An invitation to current their work or initiative to the scientists at The Estée Lauder Companies 
• Mentoring by means of The Estée Lauder Companies

The runners up will obtain:

• A prize of US$5,000
• An invitation to the award ceremony in London or New York, with lodging and journey bills paid by the organiser

The shortlisted candidates will: 

• Be profiled on the Nature Awards web site 
• Have entry to an unique teaching and networking neighborhood

Eligibility

Science Outreach Category

They are in search of initiatives which have both:

• inspired ladies or younger girls to interact with and study pure sciences, know-how, engineering, arithmetic, and drugs (STEM) or
• elevated retention of ladies in STEM careers, with a concentrate on offering instruments to help girls by means of their profession development in a STEM self-discipline.

They settle for functions from organizations, departments, people (of any gender), or challenge groups. Nominate one spokesperson who would be the level of contact and characterize the successful entry on the award ceremony.

Scientific Achievement Category

• They are in search of candidates who’ve made an distinctive, demonstrable contribution to scientific discovery, and should have confronted vital private or skilled challenges. The applicant ought to exhibit the potential for growing and main an impartial analysis group. They are additionally eager that candidates have made efforts to encourage the following technology of scientists by means of outreach or help the retention of ladies in science careers.
• Applicants should self-determine as girls. They use an inclusive definition of ‘woman’ and ‘women’. They welcome trans girls, and genderqueer and non-binary folks.
• Applicants should maintain a PhD diploma, a medical diploma (MD), or one other sort of doctorate by dissertation obtained in the final 10 years.
• The beforehand talked about 10 years can be prolonged by any maternity go away(s) or different related leaves of absence. Thus, the ten years don’t have to be steady. Details of those absences will have to be specified in the course of the application course of.
• Applicants should maintain a non-tenured place on the time of application. They settle for functions from these working in STEM. They additionally welcome functions that embody an interdisciplinary part.

Evaluation Criteria

Applications can be assessed by a panel primarily based on the next standards:

• Science Outreach class
  • Description of your initiative
  • Success and influence of your initiative
  • Future plans
• Scientific Achievement class
  • Scientific achievements
  • Publications
  • Activities past analysis

Application

Entries should be full and submitted by 11:59 pm UTC 00:00 on the eighth April 2026 to be eligible.

Click here to apply

For extra data, go to Nature Awards Inspiring Women in Science.