Sub-Saharan Africa For Women in Science fellows chosen

23 Mar 2010

The innaugural L'Oréal and UNESCO Regional Fellowships for Women in Science in sub-Saharan Africa will be awarded this year at a public ceremony in Johannesburg, South Africa on 30 March 2010.

The new regional fellowship programme, run in conjunction with the African Network of Scientific Institutions (ANSTI), has selected five fellows who are qualifying candidates for PhD research projects. The award aims to assist women to realise important scientific research in all fields of science, engineering and technology. Each fellow will receive US$20 000 towards her PhD study, at a recognised tertiary education institution within Sub-Saharan Africa.

A call for submissions was released to universities within sub-Saharan Africa in November 2009, with entries closing on 15 January 2010. A total of 104 applications were received from 13 sub-Saharan countries. Each submission was assessed by a jury of six professors from countries within the sub-Saharan Africa region, four of whom were previous Laureates of the L'Oreal-UNESCO Award.

From the total number of submissions received, five women representing; South Africa (two candidates), Cameroon, Nigeria and Swaziland, have been selected to receive the Regional Fellowships for Women in Science in sub-Saharan Africa.