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2021 OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Award winners announced

In February, five outstanding early career women scientists from the developing world were recognized for their accomplishments in the physical sciences. María Eugenia Cabrera Catalán (Guatemala), Khongorzul Dorjgotov (Mongolia), Ghada Dushaq (Palestine), Imalka Munaweera (Sri Lanka), and Marian Asantewah Nkansah (Ghana) received their awards during a special online ceremony as part of the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS).

Meet the awardees

Call for Applications opened for 2021 OWSD PhD Fellowships

Applications for the fellowship are invited from women scientists from developing countries who wish to pursue a PhD in STEM subjects; deadline April 15.

See call for applications

Elections approaching for OWSD Executive Board

WSD members can now apply for the 2021-2025 OWSD Executive Board, including the positions of President, four regional Vice-Presidents, and four Regional Members.

More information

Winning this award is one of the biggest achievements of my life. Professionally, the prize makes me feel like I am an important person in the world as far as my research is concerned; and I am so excited and motivated to conduct impactful research which creates solutions to the burning issues in the world.

Imalka Munaweera, 2021 OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Awardee

Meet the OWSD Fellows:

Sumaia Mohammed

We checked in with Sumaia Mohammed, a 2016 fellow from Yemen who is currently completing a full-time PhD fellowship at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, where she is developing algorithms to extract useful information from user reviews to make better targeted recommendations.

Read Sumaia's story

IDWGS 2021

More than 200 people participated in OWSD's #IAdmire social media campaign to celebrate the United Nations International Day of Women and Girls in Science, February 11. Search #IAdmire on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram to see all of the amazing women in science who have inspired our members and other women scientists.

OWSD Applauds

Dina Machuve

@DinaMachuve · Jan 13

Building ML Dataset is labor intensive and expensive. The support from @AI4Dev @DeepIndaba @OwsdSecretariat has enabled my team to collect 6400 fecal images for Poultry Diseases Diagnostics. We are very proud of the milestone! k4all.org/project/ml-pou… pic.twitter.com/8Y1iTBIqhY

In this corner we highlight some of the most exciting recent achievements of our fellows, alumnae, and awardees. Way to go, ladies!

Olamide Adebiyi, a 2013 PhD Fellow from Nigeria, and Ossénatou Mamadou, a 2018 Early Career Fellow from Benin, have both been selected as Affiliates of the African Academy of Science (AAS). AAS Affiliates are young African scientists who have demonstrated prowess in the application and development of science, and who are recognised as emerging leaders in their field of study.

Joyce Agyei-Amponsah, a 2015 PhD Fellow from Ghana, authored an article in The Conversation Africa, "A new advance in the search for substances to replace fat in food", after attending a virtual science communication training workshop organized by the publication in partnership with the OWSD South Africa National Chapter.

Susana Arrechea, a 2020 OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Awardee from Guatemala, was awarded the Medal of Honor and Glory by the Guatemala National Office for Women.

Sri Fatmawati, a 2016 OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Awardee from Indonesia and Chair of the OWSD Indonesia National Chapter, was named President of the Indonesian Young Academy of Sciences in December 2020.

Asmaul Husna, a 2017 PhD Fellow from Bangladesh, published a paper, "Rice bakanae disease: an emerging threat to rice production in Bangladesh", in Asian Journal of Medical and Biological Research.

Sahar Mohamed, a 2016 PhD Fellow from Sudan, published her PhD thesis, "Impact of JAK2V617F Mutational on Haematologic Features in Sudanese Patients with Essential Thrombocythemia and Thrombotic Risk Assessment", in the Journal of Bioscience and Applied Research.

Natalia Montellano Duran, a 2018 Early Career Fellow from Bolivia, was awarded the "Young Researcher" Award by the Bolivian state of Santa Cruz.

OWSD Around the World

Here are a few recent highlights from our network of 36 active National Chapters.

Two new National Chapters
launched in Ecuador and Morocco

The OWSD Ecuador National Chapter was established in February 2021 with 43 members; it is the 6th National Chapter in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The OWSD Morocco National Chapter was established in March 2021 with 30 members; it is the 6th National Chapter in the Arab region and the 36th worldwide.

Seven OWSD National Chapters together with other members from Southern Africa joined together for an online celebration of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, February 11.

The OWSD Indonesia National Chapter hosted a Global Women's Breakfast webinar on the topic of 'Contributions of Natural Materials Chemistry to Health and Functional Foods', February 9.

The OWSD Rwanda National Chapter in collaboration with the Rwanda National Council for Science and Technology, Rwanda Association for Women in Science and Engineering, Next Einstein Forum, and Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion presented four awards for Rwandan women and girls live on Rwandan national TV, in celebration of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

The OWSD Guatemala National Chapter, in cooperation with the Guatemalan Academy of Medical, Physical and Natural Sciences, held a nationwide contest for drawings and videos responding to the theme of 'What is a Guatemalan scientist like?,' in celebration of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

OWSD Bangladesh National Chapter members celebrated the International Day of Women and Girls in Science with rallies at Bangladesh University of Health Sciences and the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute, as well as with two webinars, an essay writing competition for women university students, and a series of seminars with four different universities.

The OWSD Palestine National Chapter's committee for community outreach organized an interactive Zoom meeting in March where Dr. Sherin Hijazi, an expert in web security, shared her career and personal journey with students of different ages.

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