ELC and Springer-Nature Celebrate Winners of the 2025 Inspiring Women in Science Awards
Company Feature, Nov 13, 2025
The Estée Lauder Companies is proof of the power of entrepreneurial, creative, and innovative women. Guided by the vision of our trailblazing founder, Mrs. Estée Lauder, we know the importance of supporting progress for women and girls across every field, particularly in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). With women representing more than 60 percent of our STEM roles, leadership in STEM remains both a privilege and a responsibility for the company.
2025 award winners, Dr. Maheera Abdul Ghani and Dr. Sue Han Lee, on stage with Lisa Napolione.
Building on this commitment, The Estée Lauder Companies and Springer Nature, one of the world’s leading scientific publishers, celebrated the 2025 Nature Awards for Inspiring Women in Science at the Science Museum in London. This celebration marked the eighth year of partnership.
The 2 global awards honour women whose groundbreaking research is shaping the future of science and the educators and advocates who are helping the next generation to push boundaries even further through two distinct categories: the Scientific Achievement Award and the Science Outreach Award.
This year, the programme received 480 submissions across both categories, representing participants from more than 50 countries, marking the highest participation to date. Applicants represented disciplines across the natural and applied sciences, medicine, and engineering, highlighting the range of innovation driven by women worldwide. Throughout this year’s awards cycle, leaders from The Estée Lauder Companies’ Research & Development team were once again proud to represent on the judging panel for each of the awards, with Lisa Napolione, Senior Vice President, Global Research and Development, serving on the Scientific Achievement and Science Outreach panels, and Sarah Vickery, Senior Vice President, Global Scientific Communications & Translational Media, serving on the Science Outreach panel.
On the evening of the awards ceremony, Lisa Napolione introduced the Scientific Achievement category, which recognises early-career women researchers who have completed their PhD within the past decade and made exceptional contributions to scientific discovery, and reflected on the importance of visibility in science:
Lisa Napolione delivers remarks at the Science Museum, London.
“These awards celebrate women who are not only transforming their fields today, but paving the way for those who will follow,” said Lisa. “At The Estée Lauder Companies, women make up more than 60 percent of our science and engineering roles and more than half of our leadership. Every year, the work recognised through these awards reminds us that when women thrive in science, the entire world moves forward.”
The 2025 Scientific Achievement Award was presented to Dr. Sue Han Lee, Senior Lecturer at the Swinburne University of Technology in Malaysia for her research in AI-driven plant biodiversity and sustainable agriculture. Her work is helping build smarter digital tools for conservation, species identification, and ecosystem resilience. The runner-up was Dr. Attya Omer-Javed, Project Leader at Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in France, whose research is advancing chemotherapy-free gene therapy to make stem cell treatment safer and more accessible.
2025 Runners-up, Dr. Attya Omer-Javed and Astrid Viveros.
The Science Outreach Award was also presented to recognise an individual or organisation that expands access, engagement, and long-term participation of women and girls in STEM. The 2025 award was presented to WinSci Pakistan and was accepted by its founder Dr. Maheera Abdul Ghani. The organisation provides mentorship, workshops, and scholarships that help girls from underserved communities build skills, gain confidence, and envision futures in science and technology. The runner-up was Technolochicas, led by director Astrid Viveros, a programme based in Mexico and the U.S. that connects schoolgirls with women in STEM through hands-on learning in coding and digital technology.
The evening continued with two thought-provoking panels that explored how collaboration, technology, and leadership can drive equal access for all in STEM.
Professor Dame Lesley Fallowfield in discussion on women’s careers in STEM.
The first panel, “Where Are We Now: Women’s Careers in STEM,” brought together Dr. Ritu Dhand, Chief Scientific Officer at Springer Nature; Professor Dame Lesley Fallowfield, Professor of Psycho-Oncology at the University of Sussex and Director of the SHORE-C Research Group, a Breast Cancer Research Foundation and Breast Cancer Campaign–funded researcher; Professor Dame Ijeoma Uchegbu, President of Wolfson College at the University of Cambridge; and Dr. Maheera Abdul Ghani for a discussion on the current state of women’s careers in STEM, including the challenges, opportunities, and systemic supports needed to help women excel in research and leadership.
The second panel, “Where Are We Going: The Future of Women and Girls in STEM,” featured Aine McKay, Chief Product Officer at AutogenAI; Dr. Anne Kleppe, Managing Director and Partner at Boston Consulting Group; Dr. Ritu Dhand; and Dr. Sue Han Lee. The conversation focused on the next generation of women in science, the importance of early exposure to STEM, and the ongoing barriers that continue to limit women’s advancement in these fields.
Initiatives like the Nature Awards for Inspiring Women in Science demonstrate that with more perspectives and experiences, research can be enriched and innovation accelerated.
Learn more about this year’s award winners and shortlist of nominees.
