The Estée Lauder Companies has partnered with Nature Research, an online and print scientific journal, to launch two global awards in an effort to highlight the exceptional achievements of early-career female scientists, as well as those working to promote greater inclusiveness.

“As a company founded by a pioneering woman, supporting other women pioneers is at the core of who we are,” said Lisa Napolione, Senior Vice President, Global R&D, The Estée Lauder Cos. “We are thrilled to partner on these inaugural awards with Nature Research, an organization that shares our values focusing on exceptional science and extraordinary scientists.”

The Inspiring Science Award will honor female scientists who have excelled in scientific discovery and have completed their PhD within the last ten years. The Innovating Science Award will recognize an individual or an organization that has led a grassroots initiative to support or encourage girls or young women to engage with STEM subjects.

“Given the inspirational advocacy for gender equality across society we’ve recently seen, it’s more important than ever that we do more to recognize and support the achievements of women in science, and that we encourage girls and women to engage with STEM subjects and pursue scientific careers,” said Magdalena Skipper, Editor-in-Chief of Nature Communications. “These awards will give a global platform to some of these women who may otherwise go unheralded, as well as celebrate the efforts of the leaders – women and men – behind initiatives supporting greater equality in the sciences.”

Nominations for the awards opened April 9 and will close June 11. A list of 10 nominees for each award will be announced July 24, and a shortlist of five will be announced September 4. The final winners of the awards will be announced in October. Both winners will receive up to $10,000 to spend on initiatives linked to the award and free training from Nature Masterclasses. The Inspiring Science Award winner will also receive grants of up to $5,200 to support open access publication of their research in a Springer Nature journal, and the Innovating Science Award winner will receive up to $5,200 to support events related to their initiative. They will also have the opportunity to take part in a mentoring program with The Estée Lauder Companies.

“We know first-hand that mentoring, and specifically mentoring of young women, is a strong contributor to long-term success, so we have built a scientific mentoring program into the Nature Research Awards. Our goal is to connect award recipients to scientific experts in their fields who have the unique skill set required to support and accelerate the awardee’s research progress,” said Lisa.

Full details of the awards’ criteria and nomination processes are available at nature.com/researchawards.