Call for Nominations: TWAS-Samira Omar Innovation for Sustainability Award

TWAS is inviting nominations for the 2025 Award from all its members as well as science academies, national research councils, universities and scientific institutions in developing and developed countries.

Thematic Areas

• Clean and renewable energy
• Green chemistry
• Sustainable agriculture and agrobiodiversity
• Plastic: degradation, pollution and microplastics
• Water purification and sanitation
• Climate change: environmental effects, methane contribution, carbon capture
• Transportation technologies: efficiency for smart cities
• Waste management
• Biodiversity: the sixth mass extinction, ecosystem services, habitat recovery and restoration
• Ecological economics and planetary health

Prize Information 

• A monetary award of $4,000.

Eligibility Criteria

• The 2025 award will be awarded to a scientist national of a Least Developing Country (LDC), living and working in a LDC during the last two years immediately prior to his/her nomination, based on scientific achievements.
• The same nominee cannot be nominated for more than one ‘Fellows of TWAS Awards’ in a given year. The secretariat retains the right to bring to the attention of the relevant nominators that the nomination may be suitable for another award, and the final decision whether or not to shift the nomination will be taken by the nominators themselves.

Ineligibility Criteria

• Self nominations and nominations from jury members will not be considered.
• Fellows of TWAS are not eligible.

Application Requirements

• A nomination is considered complete only if includes all of the following information/material:
  • Nominator contact details;
  • Nominee contact details (self nominations are not accepted) and general information on the nominee;
  • Authorization from the nominee (i.e. the candidate) to process personal data for the purposes of the nomination, in conformity to Art. 13 of the Italian Legislative Decree 196/2003. This authorization can only be submitted through the online platform. The privacy authorization form is available for download in the section ‘nominee’s personal data’. The form must be filled in and signed by the candidate and then uploaded onto the on-line platform;
  • Suggested citation (15-20 words highlighting the nominee’s scientific achievements);
  • Supporting statement regarding the nominee’s contribution. Supporting statements should explain in detail the work performed by the candidate and its significance in the relevant scientific context. Clear reference should be made to the scientific impact of the nominee’s work. Vague supporting statements will not be considered and will negatively affect the evaluation;
  • Clear and detailed account of any time spent abroad by the nominee in the past two years;
  • PhD: information on subject area, year and awarding institution;
  • Brief information on membership in academies and societies;
  • Brief information on awards and honors received;
  • List of 10 most significant publications listed in an internationally acceptable format;
  • The nominee’s brief CV;
  • The nominee’s complete list of publications are also to be uploaded, separately, onto the online platform;
  • The nominee’s h-index in Google Scholar, and the associated number of citations.

For more information, visit TWAS.