This year marks the 20th anniversary of this prestigious award, established to honor exceptional scientific contributions by researchers living and working in developing countries.
2025 EDITION
As we celebrate the UNESCO International Year of Quantum Science and Technology in 2025, this award underscores the importance of advancing quantum research and fostering scientific capacity globally. The Year of Quantum Science and Technology offers a unique opportunity to highlight the transformative potential of quantum innovations across diverse sectors, including computing, communication, sensing, and materials science. It calls for collective efforts to harness the power of quantum technologies to address global challenges, promote scientific collaboration, and support sustainable development.
The 2025 TWAS-Apex Award will be given to an individual scientist from the developing world who has demonstrated excellence in advancing the field of Quantum Science and Technology through original, high-impact research and/or the development of innovative applications.
The Award aims to promote theoretical and experimental contributions that push the boundaries of fundamental knowledge and/or foster the translation of quantum principles into practical technologies. Through this recognition, the Award seeks to support the growth of scientific capacity in developing countries, contributing to the global advancement of basic and applied science in the frontier of knowledge.
Candidates must be nationals of a developing country, living and working in the Global South for at least the last 10 years.
The award will only be conferred to an individual for scientific accomplishments of outstanding international merit carried out at institutions in developing countries.
AWARD
The TWAS Apex Award carries a monetary award of USD100,000, as well as a medal and a certificate highlighting the recipient's major contributions to science.
The award is presented to the recipient at a special ceremony arranged by TWAS.
ELIGIBILITY
Individuals who have previously received the Trieste Science Prize or the TWAS-Lenovo Science Award (both administered by TWAS) or other prestigious international awards with a monetary value equivalent to or greater than that of the TWAS Apex Award are not eligible.
Self-nominations, and nominations from jury members will not be accepted.
Fellows of TWAS are eligible for the TWAS Apex Award.
NOMINATIONS
Nominations are invited from TWAS members, selected individuals, as well as from science academies, national research councils, universities and scientific institutions. Nominations of women scientists are particularly encouraged.
Nominations can only be submitted electronically through the on-line platform. The deadline to submit online nominations is 15 May 2025.
EVALUATION
The evaluation and selection will be carried out by an authoritative international jury chaired by the TWAS President.
HOW TO NOMINATE A SCIENTIST
The 'TWAS Apex Award' nominations can only be submitted electronically through the on-line platform by clicking on the “NEW NOMINATION” button at the bottom of this page.
To resume working on saved nominations, click on the "RESUME" button at the bottom of this page.
The deadline for submitting nominations is 15 May 2025, however we strongly recommend that you do not wait until the deadline but submit the nomination as early as you can to enable us to process it as quickly as possible.
Before starting compiling the nomination, PLEASE PAY PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO THE MAXIMUM CHARACTERS ALLOWED.
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, including the country where he/she has been working and living in the past 10 years
- Brief suggested citation (no more than 20 words) highlighting the nominee's outstanding scientific achievement in Quantum Science and Technology. An example of suitable citation is provided in the 'helptext'
- Supporting statement of about 200 words summarizing the scientific achievements of the nominee
- 5-6 page narrative write-up of the candidate highlighting his/her major scientific achievements
- Information on PhD (degree, year, awarding institution)
- Information of any time spent abroad in the past ten years
- The nominee's brief CV
- A list of no more than 20 of his/her most significant publications.
- The nominee's complete list of publications are also to be uploaded, separately, onto the online platform.
- Information on previous awards, honours, recognition received by the nominee
- Google Scholar h-index and number of citations
- Authorization from the nominee to process his/her personal data for the purposes of his/her nomination, in conformity to Art. 13 of the Italian Legislative Decree 196/2003. This authorization can only be submitted through the online platform.
PLEASE CHECK IF ENTERED DATA ARE VALID
In particular:
1) While filling in the form, pay attention to the requirements for each field (e.g. maximum number of characters, file type -Word files will not be uploaded, only pdf files are allowed-, date format, etc.)
2) Run a check using the button of the form menu to verify that mandatory fields have been filled in and the data you entered are accepted. This also saves your form.
Every time you run a check, you are taken to the last section of the form named "Submit". Use the form menu to navigate to the previous sections.
3) After you run a check, fields with NOT ACCEPTED OR MISSING DATA will be highlighted in RED.
Please note that once you have duly modified the content of one or more fields, the red highlight will not disappear until you run again a check.
For quick tips, please click on: http://onlineforms.twas.org/documents/Applicants_tutorial.pdf
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RESUME
TWAS Secretariat
ICTP Campus, Strada Costiera 11
34151 Trieste, Italy
Phone: +39 040 2240 387
Fax: +39 040 22407387
Email: awards@twas.org
Previos winners:
TWAS-Lenovo Science Award
2013 - Physics and Astronomy: Claudio Bunster of Chile for his contributions to understanding gravity and the quirky physics of tiny, fundamental particles of matter.
2014 - Biological Sciences: Quarraisha Abdool Karim of South Africa for her exceptional and distinguished contributions in HIV prevention and women's health.
2015 - Mathematics: Artur Avila of Brazil for his outstanding contributions to several areas of dynamical systems, especially to the spectral theory of one-frequency Schrödinger operators.
2016 - Chemical Sciences: Zhao Dongyuan of China for his pioneering research in the field of ordered mesoporous materials (FDU series) for diverse applications around the world.
2017 - Geological Sciences: Victor Alberto Ramos of Argentina for his contributions to the understanding of the formation of the Andes and the crustal evolution of South America.
2018 - Engineering Sciences: Raghunath A. Mashelkar of India for his seminal contributions in mechanistic analysis, synthesis and applications of novel stimuli responsive polymers.
2020 - Agricultural Sciences, shared award
Li Jiayang China of China for his seminal contribution to the understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying high-yield superior-quality traits and breeding elite rice varieties.
&
Mariangela Hungria of Brazil for her outstanding research with microorganisms, contributing to the replacement of chemical fertilizers, with economic, environment and social impacts.
2022 - Social and Economic Sciences: Fu Bojie of China for his seminal contribution to the understanding of interactions between human beings and the environment, and their implications for sustainability.
Trieste Science Prize / Ernesto Illy Trieste Science Prize
2005
- Physics and Astronomy: Tiruppattur V. Ramakrishnan, India
- Biological Sciences: Sergio Henrique Ferreira, Brazil
2006:
- Medical Sciences -vChen Ding-Shinn, Taiwan, China and Rao Zihe, China – shared award
- Mathematics -Jacob Palis, Brazil and C.S. Seshadri, India – shared award
2007
- Agricultural Sciences Luis Rafael Herrera-Estrella, Mexico
- Chemical Sciences Goverdhan Mehta, India
2008
- Space Sciences Beatriz Barbuy, Brazil
- Engineering Sciences Roddam Narasimha, India
2009 - Climate change and its impact on agriculture: Pramod Kumar Aggarwal, India and Carlos Clemente Cerri, Brazil – shared award
2010 - Renewable energies: José Goldemberg, Brazil
2011 - Materials science: CNR Rao, India
2012 - Human health: Yuk Ming Dennis Lo, China