PRESS RELEASE
8 March 201820TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE
L’ORÉAL-UNESCO FOR WOMEN IN SCIENCE PROGRAMME:
AN EXCEPTIONAL LIST OF LAUREATES FOR 2018
Paris, 8 March 2018 – The L’Oréal Foundation and UNESCO are preparing to honor five exceptional female
scientists with the 2018 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Awards at a ceremony on 22 March at
UNESCO’s headquarters in Paris.
The ceremony will follow a major scientific conference, organized by the L’Oréal Foundation and UNESCO
on 21 March. These events will recognize leading women scientists and shine a spotlight on 15 talented youngfemale scientists. They will also provide an opportunity to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the For Women in
Science programme.
Women continue to be under-represented in public and professional life, particularly in science, where theglass ceiling is still a reality. Today, only 28% of scientists are women and 3% of Nobel Prizes for Science havebeen awarded to women since the awards began in 1901.
Despite this, there are many eminent women scientists, and raising their profile is vital to promoting greater
gender equality in science. Annually for the past 20 years, the L’Oréal Foundation has recognized fiveexceptional female scientists, in partnership with UNESCO, and taken action to improve the balance ofwomen and men in science.

THE 2018 LAUREATES: EXCEPTIONAL WOMEN IN SCIENCE
On 22 March, five leading female scientists will receive the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women In Science Award in
the field of life sciences. Each laureate will receive a prize of €100,000 and be honored for her contribution in
the fields of medicine, palaeontology, molecular biology, ecology and developmental biology.
Over the last 20 years, the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science programme has raised the profile of 102
laureates and supported more than 3,000 young female scientists, helping them benefit from increased
recognition within the scientific community. Three of these laureates have received Nobel Prizes for Science.
In order to further promote these women in science, the L’Oréal Foundation is raising public awareness of
their achievements. It has launched an international communications campaign in seven international
airports (Paris, New York, Beijing, London, Dubai, Sao Paulo and Johannesburg) and on the streets of Paris, inpartnership with JCDecaux and Aéroports de Paris.
For more information, please refer to the press kit attached to this press release.

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8 March 2018

THE 2018 L’OREAL-UNESCO FOR WOMEN IN SCIENCE LAUREATESAFRICA AND THE ARAB STATESProfessor Heather ZAR
Professor and Chair, Department of Paediatrics & Child Health, Red Cross War
Memorial Children’s Hospital
Director SAMRC Unit, University of Cape Town, South Africa
For establishing a cutting-edge research program on pneumonia, tuberculosis
and asthma, saving the lives of many children worldwide.

ASIA-PACIFIC

Professor Mee-Mann CHANG
Professor, Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology
Member of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
For her pioneering work on fossil records leading to insights on how aquatic
vertebrates adapted to live on land.

EUROPE
Professor Dame Caroline DEAN
Professor, John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, United Kingdom
For her groundbreaking research on how plants adapt to their surroundings
and climate change, leading to new ways for crop improvement.

LATIN AMERICA
Professor Amy T. AUSTIN
Professor, IFEVA-CONICET, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos
Aires, Argentina
For her remarkable contributions to understanding terrestrial ecosystem
ecology in natural and human-modified landscapes.

NORTH AMERICA
Professor Janet ROSSANT
Senior Scientist, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada
University Professor, University of Toronto, CanadaPresident, Gairdner Foundation, Canada
For her outstanding research that helped to better understand how tissues andorgans are formed in the developing embryo.

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8 March 2018

THE 2018 L’OREAL-UNESCO FOR WOMEN IN SCIENCE INTERNATIONAL RISING TALENTS
Over the past 20 years, the L’Oréal Foundation and UNESCO have supported 3,022 talented young female
scientists through research fellowships. These L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science fellowships are awarded
annually at national and regional ceremonies held in 117 countries.
275 young women benefit from national and regional fellowships each year. Out of these 275, theInternational Rising Talents programme selects the 15 most promising scientists.
The 15 young female talents who will be honored in 2018 are:

AFRICA AND THE ARAB STATES-Dr. Areej Abuhammad, Jordan
A crystal for a cure
Danielle Twilley, South Africa
Targeting angiogenesis for the treatment of melanoma
Dr. Hanifa Taher Al Blooshi, United Arab Emirates
Sustainable products for major oil spills clean-up
Dr. Ibtissem Guefrachi, Tunisia
Plants point to ways of overcoming antibiotic resistance

ASIA-PACIFIC-Dr. Weang Kee Ho, Malaysia
Targeted screening for breast cancer
Dr. Hiep Nguyen, Viet Nam
A 21st century first-aid kit
Dr. Yukiko Ogawa, Japan
Lightening the load: next-generation structural materials

EUROPE-

Dr. Radha Boya, United Kingdom
Making tiny pipes for transport and filtration
Dr. Agnieszka Gajewicz, Poland
Safety first in developing new materials
Dr. Anna Kudryavtseva, Russia
The mysteries behind tumour malignancy
Associate Prof. Duygu Sag, Turkey
Triggering the immune system to fight cancer
Dr. Ai Ing Lim, France
The origins of immune system intelligence

LATIN AMERICA-Dr. Selene Lizbeth Fernandez Valverde, Mexico
The secrets of genomic “dark matter”
Dr. Rafaela Salgado Ferreira, Brazil
Computing power in the service of neglected diseases

NORTH AMERICA-Dr. Anela Choy, United States of America
Ocean food webs and human societies

CONTACTS – L’OREAL FOUNDATION
Ludivine DESMONTS-MORNET / ludivine.desmonts-mornet@loreal.com / +33 (0)6 10 57 41 74
Alix BONNET / alix.bonnet@mtrchk.com / +33 (0)6 99 45 86 45
www.fondationloreal.fr