Here you will find the letter received by RPTU regarding the funding call “For Women in Science 2025” for 4 x €25,000 in the natural sciences and STEM subjects. Further details can be found in the letter below & under the links provided.

The application deadline is March 10, 2025.

Dear Mr. President

We would like to ask for your support in distributing the following call for applications for four “For Women in Science 2025” sponsorship awards at your university - we are looking for excellent early career female scientists from your university in the natural sciences and STEM subjects.

We are L'Oréal Germany, the German Commission for UNESCO and the German Humboldt Network. With “For Women in Science”, UNESCO and L'Oréal have been very successfully promoting women in science at an international level since 1998. The German UNESCO Commission and L'Oréal Germany have been working together in Germany with the same goals and the same success since 2006, now supplemented by the German Humboldt Network and since 2024 with an expanded number and increased endowment.

The sponsorship award amounts to 25,000 euros per award winner. The prerequisite for this is either a valid employment contract or a fellowship at a German university or non-university public research institution (with at least 50% of a full-time position). The award winners can use the prize money freely (according to a concept submitted in advance), whether to support their research projects (including the procurement of equipment), for a stay abroad or to finance childcare or domestic help.

By “early career” researchers, we mean female doctoral candidates in their final year, post-docs, habilitation candidates or junior professors in the four+two years following their doctorate. The duration of the employment contract/scholarship must be at least twelve months from the submission of the application; in the case of female doctoral candidates, a confirmation of employment contract or scholarship is required.
The natural sciences are broadly defined, engineering, geosciences, agricultural sciences and of course medicine are included in any case, profiles of inter- and transdisciplinary research are strongly welcomed. The nationality of the female scientists is not relevant.

Female scientists with children are expressly encouraged to apply. Among female applicants of equal excellence, preference is given to female scientists with children, regardless of family or relationship status.
The central selection criterion is the scientific excellence of the applicants.
Special commitment to the “Third Mission” is included in the assessment of research excellence.
Further information on the criteria and the program can be found at www.fwis-programm.de and at www.forwomeninscience.com/challenge/show/101. There you will also find the application form and portraits of the four 2024 award winners. If you have any questions, please contact fwis[at]unesco.de.

The application deadline is March 10, 2025 and the award ceremony will take place in September 2025.
We hope to have aroused your interest and thank you for forwarding us to your university mailing list.

Yours sincerely, on behalf of all organizers,

Dr. Lutz Möller
Deputy Secretary General 
German UNESCO Commission e.V.