The Netherlands National Commission for UNESCO and L’Oréal the Netherlands introduced the fellowship programme in 2012 in cooperation with the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS) and the Dutch Network of Women Professors (LNVH).
Programme
The prestigious international ‘For Women in Science’ programme is a collaboration between UNESCO and L’Oréal under the motto ‘The world needs science, science needs women’. The programme offers grants and awards to exceptional women scientists in the field of life sciences.
Since 1998 the program has recognized more than 2,000 women around the globe. Two of them, Elizabeth Blackburn and Ada Yonath, have since won a Nobel Prize.
Each year two Dutch grants of maximum €25,000 will be awarded to female scientists active in the field of life sciences in the broad sense. Grants can be awarded in the period up to ten years after completing one’s PhD (comparable to Vidi level). They are intended for a residency at the NIAS campus where the researchers can further develop their scientific career as part of an international academic community.
The World needs science, science needs women
In 2012 only 15,7% of all professors in the Netherlands are female, whereas the European target figure for 2010 was 25%.
The ‘For Women in Science’ programme aims to help women progress in their scientific career and thus contribute to increase the number of female professors in the long run.
More information about the application
Detailed information about the programme, the guidelines and the application can be found and downloaded on the website www.forwomeninscience.nl. The application must be submitted to the Netherlands National Commission for UNESCO. The closing date is 11 May 2014; the prize giving ceremony will take place in autumn.