The OWSD newsletter brings you the latest news and announcements from the Secretariat and from our international network. In this edition, we meet the newly awarded 2024 OWSD Early Career fellows, celebrate our PhD fellowship graduates, introduce the newest National Chapters of OWSD, and more.

Introducing the 2024 OWSD Early Career Fellows

Sicelo Dube The STEMLady @SiceloSTEMLADY · Nov 27

Representing us girls and women in STEM innovation and entrepreneurship at the STEM continental conference @UNESCO @US_AU @AU_YouthEnvoy @UNOSAA1 @AUYouthProgram @_AfricanUnion @ElevateTrust @OwsdSecretariat @MoPSEZim @mhtestd #STEM4AfricaTransformation #TogetherWeCan

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

• Paola Andrea Alvizuri Tintaya, a 2023 Early Career Fellow from Bolivia, received the Eureka Award in the Researcher of the Year category at the Universidad Católica Boliviana San Pablo, which recognizes researchers with the greatest number of publications, among other critiera such as attendance at international events and participation in international funding calls.


• Sunandya Baidya, a 2023 Early Career Fellow from Bangladesh, received a joint research grant from the Institute for Genetic Medicine at Hokkaido University, Japan, for a project investigating immune responses in triple negative breast cancer. She won a second Advanced Research in Education grant for research on the same subject from the Bangladesh Ministry of Education. She was also invited by national TV talk show Maasranga Ranga Shokal to talk about her research and her future work in the field of tumor immunology, and was featured in newspapers Daily Star and Prothom Alo for receiving the OWSD Early Career fellowship.


• Pendo Bigambo, a 2018 Early Career Fellow from Tanzania, was promoted to Senior Lecturer at the University of Dar es Salaam. In September she was also selected for the Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program to perform a five-month research visit at North Carolina State University in the US, working on the sustainability of textile materials with a project titled ‘Development of Electrospun Nanofibrous Membranes from Recycled Textile Waste’.


• Joyce Kiplimo, a 2008 PhD Fellow from Kenya, was promoted to Dean of the School of Science and Technology at University of Kabianga.


• Marian Nkansah, a 2021 OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Awardee from Ghana, chaired the first Women in Chemical Sciences Conference (WICSIC) and Women in Chemical Sciences Excellence Awards (WICSEA) from 14-15 November. The conference and awards are initiatives of the Women in Chemistry Network (WICN), a global network which she founded in February 2024 for women professionals in the chemical sciences at all stages of their careers, including retirees.


• Luicer Olubayo, a 2015 PhD Fellow from Kenya, was featured as a trailblazing scientist in molecular medicine and virology by East Africa’s Nation news, where she discusses her work on tracking antimalarial drug resistance.


• Tahsina Farah Sanam, a 2023 Early Career Fellow from Bangladesh, was featured in Bangladesh’s national daily newspaper Kaler Kantho for receiving the OWSD fellowship. She was also invited on TV talk show Maasranga Ranga Shokal to talk about her research.


• Seblework Mekonen Shegen, a 2018 Early Career Fellow from Ethiopia, received the ‘Outstanding Female Environmental Health Research and Service Award’ from the Ethiopian Environmental Health Professional Association EEPHA, on December 6.


• Piwai Tshuma, a 2016 PhD Fellow from Zimbabwe, published a paper, 'Closing the Loop in the Carbon Cycle: Enzymatic Reactions Housed in Metal–Organic Frameworks for CO2 Conversion to Methanol’, in Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology. She and her team were also able to present their research at the African Light Source Conference (18–22 November in Johannesburg, South Africa) and the 3rd Symposium on Organic and Inorganic Chemistry Southern Africa (7–9 November in Johannesburg).


• Oyunchuluun Yadamsuren, a 2020 Early Career Fellow from Mongolia, received the best paper award from Mongolian National University of Education for her paper ‘Initial creation of a multimetric index of benthic macroinvertebrates to track the ecological integrity of streams in northern Mongolia’, published in Limnologica. She was also awarded best paper in the agricultural sector by the Mongolian Foundation of Science and Technology under the Ministry of Economy and Development for her paper ‘Effects of Grazing on taxonomic and Functional Diversity of benthic macroinvertebrates of six tributary streams of the eastern shore of Lake Hovsgol, Mongolia’, published in Inland Waters.