Announcing the winners of OWSD's Short Talks, Big Impacts competition

March 18, 2025

4 outstanding women scientists were selected as winners of the global finale of the competition open to OWSD members.

On March 14, OWSD held the exciting finale competition of its Short Talks, Big Impacts competition, a live event where 11 OWSD members presented their diverse research in a dynamic 3-minute format. The competition was designed to emphasize the importance for scientists of effective presentation and communications skills, and especially of how to highlight the contribution their research makes to solving local and global challenges. Four winners were selected from 11 finalists, who all were selected by audience member vote during three previous regional competitions in Africa (February 21), Latin America & the Caribbean (February 28), and Asia and the Arab region (March 7).   

"Sometimes the research itself is not enough," said Erin Johnson, who chaired the finale competition for the OWSD Secretariat. "A lot of the time half the battle in science is convincing other people that your research is important, whether it be funders, policymakers, or communities you’re trying to cooperate with or who might benefit from your research." 

All of OWSD's more than 10,000 members were invited to submit their interest in participating in the regional sessions. Up to 16 participants were selected for each session, where they each had the chance to convince the audience in 3 minutes why their research is impactful. At the conclusion of each regional session, the audience voted for their favorite presentations to determine the finalists who would go on to compete in the finale.

The winners of each regional session were:

Africa region