Call For Nominations: 2023 South African Women in Science Awards

Deadline: 19-Jun-2023

The Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) calls for nominations for the 2023 South African Women in Science Awards (SAWiSA).

The awards recognise and reward excellence by women scientists and researchers, and profile them as role models for younger women.

The theme for the 2023 SAWiSA is Harnessing technological change and innovation to achieve gender equality and empower women and girls.  This is derived from the theme of the 67th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW) held from 6 to 17 March 2023, which is “Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. The UNCSW is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.  It monitors UN Member States’ global standards for achieving gender equality and, through UN Women, works with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programmes and services needed to ensure that the standards are effectively implemented to truly benefit women and girls worldwide.  UN Women ensures that the vision of the Sustainable Development Goals is a reality for women and girls and stands behind women’s equal participation in all aspects of life.

Awards will be made in the distinguished young woman researchers and distinguished woman researchers categories in the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS), and Natural (Life and Physical) and Engineering Sciences categories, as well as in any field aligned with the theme.

The SAWiSA also incorporates awards to currently registered master’s and PhD students, namely, the DSI Fellowships.  The fellowships are not restricted to the theme.

Categories

The 2023 SAWiSA will be presented on 25 August 2023 as part of the Department’s celebration of Women’s Month.  The awards will be made in the following categories:

• Awards for Distinguished Woman Researchers
  • Humanities and Social Sciences
  • Natural (Life and Physical) and Engineering Sciences
  • Research Leading to Technological Change and Innovation in Achieving Gender Equality and Empowering Girls and Women
• Awards for Distinguished Young Woman Researchers
  • Humanities and Social Sciences
  • Natural (Life and Physical) and Engineering Sciences
  • Research Leading to Technological Change and Innovation in Achieving Gender Equality and Empowering Girls and Women
• DSI Fellowships
  • These awards will be made to 12 women who are currently involved in full-time study or research leading to master’s or PhD degrees.  The fellowships recognise the awardees’ outstanding ability and potential in research, enhance their research experience and output, and encourage more young women to complete research degrees.
  • Six master’s students:  two in Natural Sciences, one in Engineering Sciences, one in HSS, one in Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) and one in Astronomy.
  • Six PhD students:  two in Natural Sciences, one in Engineering Sciences, one in HSS, one in IKS and one in Astronomy

Award Information

• Distinguished Young Woman Researchers
  • Value of each award
    • Winner: R80 000
    • First runner-up: R55 000
    • Second runner-up: R30 000
• Distinguished Woman Researchers
  • Value of each award
    • Winner: R90 000
    • First runner-up: R65 000
    • Second runner-up: R40 000
• For both
  • Value of each award
    • Distinguished Young Woman Researcher: R90 000
    • Distinguished Woman Researcher: R100 000
• Dsi Fellowships
  • Value of the awards
    • R70 000 for a master’s degree (x6)
    • R90 000 for PhD degree (x6)

Nomination Criteria

• Distinguished Young Woman Researchers
  • Nominations are requested for emerging woman scientists or researchers under the age of 40 or turning 41 during the year of the awards, who have PhDs and whose research projects have contributed to advancing science and building the knowledge base.
  • NB: Overall winners in the past 10 years are not eligible to be nominated in the categories in which they have previously won.
• Who may make a nomination?
  • Any person who knows the nominee and her work well can make a nomination.  The nominator should provide the motivation as required in the nomination form.
• Adjudication Criteria
  • In the context of being early-career scientists, nominees will be judged on their research publication record, their national and/or international stature (as evidenced by their presentation of keynote addresses or papers at international conferences), their experience in supporting younger students, the relevance and impact of their research, and/or the potential exploitability of their research outputs (i.e. the possibility of using research results to develop or improve products, processes and services).

Distinguished Woman Researchers

• Nomination criteria
  • Nominations are requested from established woman scientists or researchers with at least five years of postdoctoral experience, and who are actively involved in research.
  • NB: Overall winners in the past 10 years are not eligible to be nominated in the categories in which they have previously won.
• Who may make a nomination?
  • Any person who knows the nominee and her work well can make a nomination.  The nominator should provide the motivation as required in the nomination form.
• Adjudication Criteria
  • Nominees will be judged on their research publication record, their international stature (as evidenced by their presentation of keynote addresses or papers at international conferences), their experience in supervising postgraduate students and researchers, the relevance and impact of their research, and exploitability of their research outputs (i.e. the possibility of using the research results to develop or improve products, processes and services).

Dsi Fellowships

• Application criteria
  • The fellowships are open to women who are involved in full-time study towards master’s or PhD degrees and are registered at South African universities.  Applicants should be women who are:
  • South African citizens or permanent residents;
  • Under the age of 35; and
  • High performers in their current and previous degrees.
  • NB: Previous fellowship awardees cannot apply or be nominated for the same degree of study.
• Adjudication Criteria
  • Applicants will be judged on the quality and performance in their studies; past and present achievements; quality and feasibility of their proposed study/research plan and time schedule; relevance of their research (potential to provide solutions to immediate problems and scarcity of researchers in the field pursued); and their career plans as per the application criteria given.

For more information, visit DSI.