Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists 2023

The Blavatnik Family Foundation and the New York Academy of Sciences will open nominations for the 2023 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists on September 28.

UW is invited to nominate up to three outstanding young faculty-rank or equivalent level researchers, 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 1981), and hold a tenured or tenure-track position or equivalent at your institution. 

Now entering its tenth year, the Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists recognize and celebrate America’s most innovative and promising faculty-rank scientists and engineers. Each year, one nominee in each category is awarded $250,000 in unrestricted funding and honored at the Blavatnik National Awards ceremony in New York City as a Blavatnik National Awards Laureate.

Please refer to the updated 2023 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 September 28, 2022 and end on November 9, 2022.

The Blavatnik Awards strongly encourages all those submitting nominations to the Awards—including institutional nominators, Scientific Advisory Council members, and past Blavatnik Awards Laureates—to diversify the population of candidates nominated for this Award. The Blavatnik Awards are proud to have honored 139 women scientists since the Awards’ inception in 2007—approximately 30% of all Blavatnik Awards recognize women.  Blavatnik Awards honorees hail from 50 countries on six continents, and approximately 60% of all Blavatnik Awards honorees are immigrants to the country in which they were honored. A more diverse scientific workforce will accelerate discovery and innovation, and the Blavatnik Awards are committed to honoring the most talented young scientists—regardless of race, ethnicity, disability status, gender, or field of study.

Eligibility Requirements

The nominee must:

• Have been born in or after 1981.
• Hold a doctorate degree (PhD, DPhil, MD, DDS, DVM, etc.).
• Currently hold a tenured or tenure-track academic faculty position, or equivalent, at an invited institution in the United States.
• Currently conduct research as a principal investigator in one of the disciplinary categories in Life Sciences, Physical Sciences & Engineering, or Chemistry.

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 by Wednesday, October 26, 2022. For more information, please contact us at blavatnikawards@nyas.org. We strongly encourage institutions considering nominating candidates born prior to 1981 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. If the final application requires a diversity statement or statement of broader impacts, please summarize your plans to address the specific requirements on an additional page.
3. Full CV (not biosketch) of the PI
4. A letter of support from the Dean or Chair that includes verification of eligibility requirements. 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 limitedsubs@uw.edu by 5:00 PM Wednesday, October 12, 2022. Nominations are due to the sponsor 11/9/2022.