Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists 2022

The New York Academy of Sciences and the Blavatnik Family Foundation will open nominations for the 2022 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists on October 6, 2021.

Now entering its ninth year, the Blavatnik National Awards recognize and celebrate America’s most innovative and promising faculty-rank scientists and engineers in three disciplinary categories: Chemistry, Physical Sciences & Engineering, and Life Sciences. Each year, one nominee in each category is awarded $250,000 in unrestricted funding and honored at the Blavatnik National Awards ceremony at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City as a Blavatnik National Awards Laureate.

Your institution is invited to nominate up to three outstanding young faculty members, one in each of the three disciplinary categories: Chemistry, Physical Sciences & Engineering, and Life Sciences.  Eligible nominees must be 42 years of age or younger (born in or after 1980), and hold a tenured or tenure-track position or equivalent at your institution. 

Please refer to the updated 2022 Blavatnik National Awards Nomination Guidelines for full details on candidate eligibility and selection criteria, and the Nomination Materials and Instructions page for nomination requirements and online submission instructions.  The nominations portal will be accessible through the Blavatnik Awards website during the nomination period, which will begin on October 6, 2021 and end on November 17, 2021.

The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists strive for nominee equality and diversity, and strongly encourage the nomination of women and members of other historically underrepresented groups in science and engineering. In support of all scientists’ efforts to increase the diversity of their fields, and in recognition of the many professional service and outreach activities that scientists undertake, starting with the 2021 Award cycle we will require all nominees to submit a Professional Service and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement as part of their nomination materials. Details on this new requirement can be found on the Nomination Materials and Instructions page.

Nominees must:

• Have been born in or after 1980;
• Hold a doctorate degree (PhD, DPhil, MD, DDS, DVM, etc.);
• Currently hold a tenured or tenure-track academic faculty position (or equivalent) at your institution;
• Currently conduct research as a principal investigator in one of the disciplinary categories in Life Sciences, Physical Sciences & Engineering, or Chemistry.

The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists strive for nominee equality and diversity, and strongly encourage the nomination of women and members of other historically underrepresented groups in science and engineering. In support of all scientists’ efforts to increase the diversity of their fields, and in recognition of the many professional service and outreach activities that scientists undertake, starting with the 2021 Award cycle we will require all nominees to submit a Professional Service and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement as part of their nomination materials. Details on this new requirement can be found on the Nomination Materials and Instructions page.

Age limit exceptions will be considered by the Blavatnik Family Foundation in exceptional circumstances upon a detailed written submission from the nominating institution received by the New York Academy of Sciences at blavatnikawards@nyas.org no later than Wednesday, October 14, 2020.  We strongly encourage institutions considering nominating candidates born prior to 1980 to contact us as early as possible during the nomination period.

Application Instructions

Please submit:

1. a one‐ page description of research accomplishments, and please note the disciplinary category
2. Full CV of the PI (not an NIH or NSF biosketch)
3. A letter of support from the Dean or Chair. This letter of support signifies that the Dean or Chair have ensured that  the nominee and application are likely to be of sufficient quality to be competitive nationally

to research@uw.edu by 5:00 PM Thursday, October 14, 2021. Nominations are due to the sponsor 11/17/21.