Deadline: August 31, 2025
Applications are open for the OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Awards 2026 for Early Career Women Scientists in the Developing World. OWSD invites applications from early career women scientists from the Global South working in the area of sustainable, affordable, and reliable energy.
The OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Awards for Early Career Women Scientists reward and encourage women working and living in developing countries who are in the early stages of their scientific careers, having often overcome great challenges to achieve research excellence. Awardees must have made a demonstrable impact on the research environment, both at a regional and international level, and must have received their PhD in STEM in the last ten years.
Prizes
- Cash prize of USD $5,000.
- All-expenses-paid trip to attend a relevant international conference.
The 5 awards will be distributed as follows: one for each of the four regions of the developing world (Africa, Arab region, Asia & the Pacific and Latin America & the Caribbean), plus an additional ¨floating” award for an outstanding candidate from any of these regions.
Eligibility
- Applicants must have lived and worked for at least 5 of the last 15 years in one of the following science- and technology-lagging countries (STLCs):
- Africa: Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini (Kingdom of), Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe
- Arab region: Djibouti, Palestine (West Bank and Gaza Strip), Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Yemen
- Asia & the Pacific: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Kiribati, Lao People’s Dem Rep., Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Tuvalu, Vanuatu
- Latin America & the Caribbean: Bolivia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay
- Applications from candidates in the Social sciences, Humanities, Arts, or other are NOT eligible.
- The eligible STEM fields are as follows:
- Agricultural Sciences
- Astronomy, Space and Earth Sciences
- Biological Systems and Organisms
- Chemical Sciences
- Computing and Information Technology
- Engineering Sciences
- Mathematical Sciences
- Medical and Health Sciences (including Neurosciences)
- Physics
- Structural, Cell and Molecular Biology
- Any combination of these fields (i.e. interdisciplinarity) is acceptable.
Application
Applications must be made online, in English, and must include:
- Official documentation proving 5 years’ residency in an eligible STLC.
- The following documents can be submitted as proof of residence as long as the name of the applicant (as written in the online form) appears clearly: statement from the local police office or municipality, population registry office, rental agreement, utilities bills, employment contract. This list is not exhaustive and alternative documents can be considered. Please write to [email protected] if you are not sure about the eligibility of your documents.
- Evidence on how your research contributes to advancing SDG7 (Affordable and clean energy).
- Motivational statement of no more than 2500 characters describing why you should be selected for this award, the excellent quality of your research, greatest achievements of your scientific career, impact of your work locally/regionally/internationally, and where relevant, any persona/professional challenges you have faced and overcome given your context (for ease, they recommend that you prepare this beforehand and copy-paste into the text box).
- PhD certificate
- Curriculum vitae
- Full list of publications
- At least 2 reference letters (reference letters must be prepared on official letterhead and should be written and signed by senior scientists familiar with your research).
For more information, visit OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Awards.
