Dedicated to girls in science, the 4th Carolina Bori Science & Woman Prize was awarded this Friday (10th), in the city of São Paulo, promoted by the Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science (SBPC). In this edition, the entity rewards young women and adolescents, whose scientific initiation researches demonstrated creativity, good application of the scientific method and potential contribution to science in the future.
This edition awarded nine winners, three in the High School category and six in the Undergraduate category. The date of the event was chosen in celebration of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, established by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) and with the participation of the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Luciana Santos.
First to receive the award, student Camily Pereira dos Santos, a high school student at the Federal Institute of Rio Grande do Sul (IFRS), on the campus of the city of Osório, thanked the award and dedicated it to the women who encouraged her.
“I thank my professor and my research colleague, this award was only possible because we were together, with a lot of teamwork and resilience. I would also like to thank my mother because it was based on one of her stories that the idea came up and it was a way of contributing to the solution of menstrual poverty. This is not just an award, but an incentive for many girls to follow their careers, be transformed and thus, like me, also transform my community”.
The student’s project is an ecological absorbent made with absorbent biofilm, vegetable fibers and waterproof biofilm.
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“I want to congratulate all the young scientists who are here, above all for believing in science, if they are here today it was because they chose the path of affirming science and not denying science, scientific research provides great emotions, because it makes people understand the phenomena, the discovery of a solution, a certain challenge or a certain problem, which is achieved in various ways. Many of you lived this moment during the scientific journey that you decided to undertake at a very young age”, said the minister, who praised the work of the SBPC and praised the value of the institution for Brazilian society.
Electrical engineer Luciana Santos is the first woman to head the ministry. She affirmed her commitment to building a robust policy to encourage science and technology among women. “I want to state that the commitment to the resumption of this agenda will have this mark: research like a woman”, said the minister when showing the shirt she was wearing at the ceremony. “It is essential to strengthen the instruments we have to democratize women’s participation in science and technology on a permanent basis”, she added.
The SBPC president, Renato Janine Ribeiro, the entity’s vice-president, Fernanda Sobral, the society’s director, Miriam Grossi, and the member of the SBPC Council, Vanderlan Bolzani, participated in the award ceremony.
SBPC received nominations from 446 candidates from 223 institutions from all regions of the country. There were 126 nominees for the High School category and 320 for Undergraduate, a category subdivided into three major areas of knowledge: Biological and Health (126), Engineering, Exact and Earth Sciences (103) and Humanities (91).
A judging commission chose nine winners, three from High School and six from Undergraduate. Nine honorable mentions were also awarded, three from High School and six from Undergraduate. In the area of Engineering, Exact Sciences and Earth Sciences, in addition to Anita de Souza Silva, Ariane Leite do Nascimento, a graduate student in Biological Sciences at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), also received an award for her work “Botânica semper viva”.
