The L’Oréal Foundation and UNESCO are proud to announce the names of the 30 winners of the 14th L’Oréal-UNESCO Young Talent Award for Women in Science.
Every year, the L’Oréal-UNESCO Young Talent Award for Women in Science rewards and supports African women scientists for the quality of their scientific research.
For this 14th edition, 25 doctoral students and 5 post-doctoral researchers were rewarded at the annual ceremony held on 9 November in Kasane, Botswana.
Women scientists: an opportunity for the African continent and the whole world
Talented women scientists have never been in greater need of support, yet global research efforts are not moving fast enough.
African scientists represent only 2.5% of the world’s researchers. And as the social, political, economic and environmental crises worsen daily, it is now crucial to harness all scientific talent to ensure a fairer and more sustainable future for the continent.
This year, the L’Oréal Foundation and UNESCO wished to strengthen their commitment to gender equality in science, and reward 30 talented young women researchers, 10 more than in previous years.
They were selected from 632 applications for the quality and scope of their scientific work by a 10-member jury chaired by Professor Aggrey Ambali, Director of Technical Cooperation and Programme Financing at the African Union Development Agency, AUDA-NEPAD.
These women are all the pride of their 17 countries of origin, including Cabo Verde and Lesotho, represented for the first time.
Bearers of hope and innovative solutions for the African continent, the 30 scientists in the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science 2023 Young Talent Award for Sub-Saharan Africa are involved in a wide range of research fields.
Using novel approaches, they are tackling major challenges with the aim of improving the quality of life in Africa and throughout the world.
Fanta Yadang Sabine Adeline, one of the Young Talents 2023, is convinced: “Africa’s future is in the hands of its scientists”.
And she is not alone. The thirty Young Talents of 2023 – biochemists, epidemiologists, ecologists, artificial intelligence experts and public health specialists – are all determined to find sustainable solutions to Africa’s various challenges.
The 30 winners hail from all over Africa: Mauritius, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia, Lesotho, Cameroon, Kenya, United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Benin and Cabo Verde.
The L’Oréal-UNESCO Young Talents Sub-Saharan Africa programme
Created in 2000, the national and regional programmes award over 250 grants each year in more than 110 countries. Their aim is to enable women scientists to pursue their careers and, more generally, to promote and highlight the crucial importance of women in science.
UNESCO is deeply committed to supporting gender equality in science for the benefit of society and to championing scientific excellence worldwide.
Over the 25 years of our partnership with the L’Oréal Foundation, we have selected and rewarded more than 4,100 women scientists, at different stages of their careers, for their outstanding contribution to scientific progress.
The L’Oréal-UNESCO Young Talents are the very future of science.
“We look forward to working with them and our partners to continue to strengthen the essential role of women in science for a sustainable and inclusive future for all,” said Lidia Brito, Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences at UNESCO.
The L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Young Talents in Sub-Saharan Africa programme provides financial support for the winners to carry out their research projects.
By research grants of €10,000 for doctoral students and €15,000 for post-doctoral researchers.
The Young Talents of the 2023 edition will join the community of more than 200 African women researchers who have been supported and honoured since the creation of this regional programme in 2010.
“Enabling such talent to emerge in the public debate and be recognised for the quality of their work requires an urgent and multi-faceted mobilisation. Everyone has a responsibility: institutions, businesses, civil society and the general public. Neither Africa nor the world will successfully overcome the environmental, societal, health and geopolitical crises of our time by depriving itself of half of humanity,” said Alexandra Palt, Managing Director of the L’Oréal Foundation.
