18/04/2024

'Women in Science Award' is now accepting applications.

Luna Lomonaco (IMPA) foi uma das premiadas em 2018 / Imagem: ABC

Created with the goal of recognizing and promoting women's participation in science and supporting promising female scientists in the country, the 'For Women in Science' award is open for applications until May 8th. Organized by the L'Oréal Group in Brazil, in partnership with the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (ABC) and UNESCO in Brazil, the program annually awards seven female researchers with a grant of R$ 50,000 in the areas of Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Chemical Sciences, and Mathematics. The objective is to promote gender balance in the Brazilian scientific landscape.

According to data from CAPES ( Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel), 54.2% of students enrolled in stricto sensu programs are female. Despite this, this balance does not extend to academic leadership positions. Research conducted by the Laboratory for Studies on Higher Education (LEES) at Unicamp shows that the number of female professors in universities has grown by only 1% in 18 years. Among the main problems faced in their careers are invisible gender barriers such as lack of funding for studies and motherhood.

For Helena Nader, the first female president of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (ABC), the inclusion of women in science is fundamental to promoting diversity and advancing research, but to achieve this, it is necessary to guarantee safe tools and environments so that they can develop their careers. "There are barriers related to women's social role, such as motherhood and the responsibility of caregiving, which directly impact the professional growth of these scientists and need to be addressed to ensure equity in science," she emphasizes.

To this end, the 'For Women in Science' award is accepting applications from women without children who completed their doctorate on or after January 1, 2016. For women with one child, the deadline is extended by one year, and for those with two or more children, the additional deadline is two years. Furthermore, the scientist must have stable residency in Brazil, develop research projects at national institutions, among other requirements. The complete regulations and more information about the program are available on the website. The winners will be announced during the second half of this year.

IMPA researchers have already received awards.

A specialist in complex algebraic geometry, IMPA researcher Carolina Araujo was one of the Brazilian scientists awarded the "For Women in Science" prize in 2008. Also a researcher at the institute, Luna Lomonaco was honored in the 2018 edition. Luna specializes in dynamical systems.

In the last edition, Carla Negri Lintzmayer from the Federal University of ABC was the winner in the mathematics category. The researcher investigates problems in graphs, focusing on the study of algorithms and structural and theoretical issues related to them. She seeks to develop algorithms and find solutions to complex problems, understanding the limits of computational power and advancing knowledge in computer science.