The Estée Lauder Companies and Springer Nature Celebrate Winners of This Year’s Inspiring Women in Science Awards

As a company powered by the disruptive thinking of one groundbreaking woman, Mrs. Estée Lauder, The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) is proud to champion women’s advancement in every corner of our organization. Female trailblazers are needed now more than ever, especially within the realm of science. That’s why we’re proud to continue our partnership with Springer Nature for the fifth year through the Nature Awards for Inspiring Women in Science, which promote gender equality in scientific research and STEM outreach. Through this platform, we are working together to create more opportunities and visibility for women, particularly in STEM.

This year, ELC and Springer Nature announced the winners of the Inspiring Women in Science Awards at a ceremony held at ELC’s UK&I headquarters in London. ELC’s own Lisa Napolione, Senior Vice President, Global Research & Development, and Wei Chen, Vice President, UK&I Supply Chain, represented the company during the ceremony to celebrate and honor the countless women and organizations at the forefront of these awards. As in previous years, the awards were separated into two categories: Scientific Achievement and Science Outreach. The Scientific Achievement category recognizes the early-career women researchers that have made an exceptional, demonstrable contribution to scientific discovery, while the Science Outreach category shines a spotlight on those who work to encourage girls and young women to engage with STEM subjects and increase retention in STEM careers. Lisa Napolione; Nadine Pernodet, Senior Vice President, BioSciences; and Sarah Vickery, Vice President, Global Scientific Communications and Translational Media, proudly served on the judging panel across the two award categories.

This year’s Scientific Achievement award was presented to Kizzmekia Corbett, PhD. Her laboratory studies host immune responses to coronaviruses and other emerging and re-emerging viruses to propel novel vaccine and antibody therapy development. This work directly contributed to the development of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. In an effort to combine her research goals with her passion for mentorship, Corbett invests much of her time to underserved communities as an advocate of STEM education and vaccine awareness.

The Scientific Outreach award was presented to The Tem Menina no Circuito initiative. The initiative, which was founded by three female physics professors at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, holds weekly hands-on activities in schools in low-income regions in a girls-only environment. The activities, such as electrical circuits workshops in alternative media, combine materials commonly used in crafts with electronic components, and are designed to bring out the playful and creative aspects of science.

This year, there was no question that the awards had grown immeasurably––and with them the breadth of applicants. As a result of the sheer number of extraordinary candidates, the ceremony not only celebrated this year’s winners, but the entire 2022 shortlist of nominees, a collection of women who have dominated their respective STEM fields with expertise and fearlessness, even in the face of gender biases and disproportionate opportunities. In addition to celebrating the shortlist of nominees at the ceremony, nominees from each category were invited to an exclusive mentoring and networking community site. On this site, Lisa Napolione shared with nominees the importance of building relationships and how meaningful conversation with intention and empathy is key to driving results in research and the sciences. Inga Shoberg, Executive Director, Global Social Strategy & Media Partnerships, Estée Lauder, leveraged her insights as a social media professional to share her advice with nominees on how to approach social media as a helpful tool to further career development and drive positive experiences in an increasingly digitally immersed world.

To further foster a community of connection, before the awards ceremony, Springer Nature hosted a networking day, which brought together Springer Nature employees, ELC employees, and the award winners for an afternoon of discussion around the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Lisa Napolione, Wei Chen, and Sarah Vickery represented the company on two panels, “Communicating SDGs: How, Why, When” and “Moving Forward the SDGs: Challenges, Perspectives and Action,” where they each shared ELC’s efforts to advance progress against our sustainability and social impact goals.

“Encouraging mentorship and advancement for the continued growth and leadership of women, particularly in STEM, is a personal passion of mine and I could not be prouder to celebrate this year’s award winners,” Lisa remarked on the awards.

The empowerment of women is central to our company’s DNA and continues to be a residing passion throughout the company. In celebration of our fifth year of working with Springer Nature, we invite you to learn more about this year's remarkable winners here.