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Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists

General Information

Program Description

The Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists honor America’s most innovative and promising faculty-rank scientists and engineers. These awards celebrate the past accomplishments and future potential of young faculty members working in the following disciplinary categories: Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Engineering, and Chemical Sciences.

Each year, one laureate in each category receives $250,000 in unrestricted funds, and additional nominees are recognized as finalists. The awards aim to support early-career scientists when they need it most, helping to validate and fund promising early-stage discoveries.

The University has been invited to nominate up to three outstanding young faculty members, one in each of the three disciplinary categories: Chemical Sciences, Physical Sciences & Engineering, and Life Sciences. The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists strives for nominee equality and diversity and encourages institutions to consider nominations of women and members of other historically under-represented groups in science and engineering. Please note that the Blavatnik Awards are more like prizes than awards to support research. The funds go directly to the awardees and not the institution.

Limitation

Schools may submit one (1) application for Penn’s internal competition.

Eligibility

  • Appointment: The nominee must currently hold a faculty position at an invited institution in the United States.
  • Degree: The nominee must hold a doctorate degree (PhD, DPhil, MD, DDS, DVM, etc.).
  • Birth Year: The nominee must have been born in or after 1983.
  • Research: The nominee must currently conduct research as a principal investigator in one of the disciplinary categories in Life Sciences, Physical Sciences & Engineering, or Chemical Sciences.
  • For any sponsored research projects, the applicant must be eligible to serve as Principal Investigator for the project, unless otherwise noted in the LSO. Please see Penn’s PI Eligibility requirements to ensure you are eligible. 

Award Information

  • An unrestricted research award of $250,000 for one (1) year.
  • Indirect Costs: Indirect costs are not applicable to the award
Apply Here

Limited Submission Opportunities Protocol 

What is a Limited Submission Opportunity? When a funding agency or foundation limits the number of applications Penn can submit, the OVPR manages a two-part internal review process to select the proposal that advances to the funder. 

What is the Review Process for Limited Submissions? The selection process begins at the school level, where candidates are vetted to choose a finalist for the OVPR round. Applicants must follow their home school’s deadlines and submission instructions. A committee of reviewers then recommends candidates to the Senior Vice Provost, who selects the final nominee. 

Where do I find out about limited submission opportunities on the OVPR website? The newly designed website lists LSOs. Use the filters on the left to refine your search. Opportunities are listed in summary form. Click on the title of an opportunity to see the full details. 

How do I apply? When the full detail page for the opportunity is open, click the “APPLY HERE” button at the bottom right of the screen. This starts your application process using InfoReady. Log in with your PennKey credentials. After you submit your application, InfoReady processes it for the first round of review at your school. If selected as the Penn nominee, you will be notified directly and will begin the submission process to the funder with the Office of Research Services and PennERA.