L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science fellowships - practical information

Sarah de Rijcke joined the Centre for Science & Technology Studies (CWTS) at Leiden University in the Spring of 2011, where she is currently Professor in Science, Technology and Innovation Studies and Scientific Director of the institute. Her long-term research interest is to examine the interactions between science governance and knowledge creation. She has a strong international reputation in Science and Technology Studies (STS), with specific training and expertise in social studies of research evaluation.

Sarah's research has been taken up by a host of international bodies. She recurrently acts as expert advisor in European and global science policy initiatives. Most recently, she was invited to represent the Netherlands in a high-level Unesco Expert Group to write a global recommendation on Open Science (2020-2021). In 2022, she became a member of the Netherlands Commission for Unesco.

She serves as Board member of the Netherlands Graduate Research School of Science, Technology and Modern Culture (WTMC) and as Council member of the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST). She is a member of multiple scientific advisory boards in Europe, including those of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), the Institute for Advanced Studies in Vienna, and the Munich Center for Technology in Society (TU Munich).

Yvonne Benschop is Professor of Business Administration, with a focus on Organizational Behavior, at the Institute for Management Research, Radboud University Nijmegen. From 2017 to 2022, she served as Head of the Department of Business Administration and currently leads the faculty research group Gender and Power in Politics and Management.

Her teaching, research, and advisory work examine how organizations take responsibility for gender equality, diversity, and inclusion, with particular attention to the informal organizational processes that sustain inequality. She also studies interventions aimed at advancing organizational change towards greater diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Her recent research projects explore gender and inclusion in leadership, the influence of postfeminism on organizational change, and sustainable transformation towards intersectional equality in organizations. In addition, she engages with feminist questions at the intersection of climate change and technology.

She is an active member of several European research consortia, including INSPIRE, the Horizon Europe Centre of Excellence for Inclusive Gender Equality in Research and Innovation.

Professor Benschop served as Co-Editor-in-Chief of the journal Organization (2015–2020), is a member of the Distinguished Advisory Board of Gender, Work and Organization, and sits on the editorial boards of several other academic journals. Her work has appeared in leading journals such as the Journal of Management Studies, Organization Studies, Organization Theory, Human Relations, and Gender, Work and Organization.

Jan Willem Duyvendak is Distinguished Research Professor of Sociology at the University of Amsterdam, after he had been director of the Verwey-Jonker Research Institute for Social Issues (1999-2003) and Professor of Community Development at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. With regard to his background training, he received his master’s degrees in both sociology and philosophy at the University of Groningen. Moreover, he did his doctoral research, which dealt with new social movements, at the University of Amsterdam. His main fields of research currently are the transformation of the welfare state, belonging and ‘feeling at home’, and nativism.

His latest books include The Politics of Home. Nostalgia and Belonging in Western Europe and the United States (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), Crafting Citizenship. Negotiating Tensions in Modern Society (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012, co-authored with Menno Hurenkamp and Evelien Tonkens), European States and Their Muslim Citizens. The Impact of Institutions on Perceptions and Boundaries (Cambridge University Press 2014, co-edited with John Bowen, Christophe Bertossi, Mona Lena Krook), New York and Amsterdam. Immigration and the New Urban Landscape (NYU Press 2014, co-edited with Nancy Foner, Jan Rath and Rogier van Reekum) and Players and Arenas. The Interactive Dynamics of Protest (Amsterdam University Press 2015, co-edited with James M. Jasper), The Culturalization of Citizenship. Belonging and Polarization in a Globalizing World (Macmillan 2016, co-edited with Peter Geschiere and Evelien Tonkens.)

In 2013-2014, Duyvendak was Distinguished Fellow at the Advanced Research Collaborative at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. In Spring 2016 he was Research Fellow at the Paris Institute for Advanced Studies. Since July 2017 he is Executive Committee Chair at Council for European Studies. Since January 1st 2018 he is director of the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences at the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (NIAS-KNAW).

Caroline Vanduffel is Scientific & Regulatory Affairs Director at L'Oréal Benelux. In this role, leading the Scientific & Regulatory team in Benelux, Caroline is responsible for partnering with business to define the regulatory strategy for new products and claims and lifecycle management activities of the product portfolio (cosmetics, medical devices, beauty devices). Her responsibilities also include monitoring the external landscape and assessment of threats or opportunities that may impact the brand portfolio. Prior to joining L’Oréal, Caroline spent 6 years with Bayer Consumer Health Benelux as Head of Regulatory Affairs and 10 years with Pierre Fabre Benelux as a Quality, Regulatory, Vigilance & Information (QRVI) manager where she was responsible for GDP compliance, executing the regulatory strategies for the registration of a diverse range of products (cosmetics, food supplements, medical devices, medicinal products), for managing all lifecycle activities, for the medical information inquiries and pharmacovigilance tasks. Previous to her QRVI role, Caroline was product manager of the Pierre Fabre Dermatologie and Ducray brand portfolios in the Benelux. During her Master’s program at IPIL, Caroline was an intern in the department of General Direction of Research and Development, International Scientific Relations at L’Oréal in Paris where she focused on the strategic evaluation of clinical dermatology in India and Japan for future R&D relations.

Caroline holds a master degree in Health Engineering – Specialization Industrial Cosmetology from the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences – IPIL (Institut de Pharmacie Industrielle de Lyon) with an additional curriculum of Management at EM Lyon (Executive Education), and a master degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the Catholic University in Leuven (KUL). 

Frances de Man is Professor of Pulmonary Diseases, with a special focus on right heart failure in pulmonary hypertension, at Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She studied Biomedical Sciences at the Vrije Universiteit and earned her PhD in 2010 from the Department of Pulmonary Diseases at the same university. Following this, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Paris, where she investigated the role of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system in patients with pulmonary hypertension. In 2011, she returned to the Department of Pulmonary Diseases as a postdoc and was appointed Assistant Professor in 2013.

In 2015, she was a Fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIAS), supported by a L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Fellowship. She was promoted to Associate Professor in 2018 and has held a full professorship since 1 December 2022.

Frances de Man’s research focuses on uncovering the mechanisms underlying right heart failure in pulmonary hypertension, with the aim of developing therapies to prevent this condition. She supervises multiple PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers and leads the translational PHEniX laboratory.

She is also a committed advocate for advancing women in science. As a mentor to young female researchers and a vocal proponent of equity in academia, she has actively addressed structural inequalities within the research environment. In recent years, she has championed the right to contract extensions for postdoctoral researchers following parental leave. Her efforts contributed to changes in employment policies at AMC Medical Research BV, and she is currently engaged in discussions with academic institutions to implement these rights more broadly.

Professor De Man has received several personal research grants, including a VENI (2013), VIDI (2018), and a Senior Postdoc Dekker Fellowship from the Dutch Heart Foundation. She is also involved in national research consortia under the Dutch Cardiovascular Alliance (PHAEDRA-IMPACT, DOLPHIN-GENESIS) and was awarded the Prix Galien Research Award in 2022.

Nathalie Katsonis is a highly innovative and creative chemist who researches the molecular origins of functional movement in systems of interacting molecules.

She received her PhD in 2004, from the University Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris, France). Since April 2020 she is Professor of Chemistry at the University of Groningen (the Netherlands).

In integrating artificial molecular machines in soft matter, Katsonis has repeatedly demonstrated that she can break boundaries in the most fundamental sense. Among her seminal contributions was demonstrating that artificial molecular machines can be used to power robotic muscles. She is a pioneer in elucidating the molecular origins of functional motion across different length scales. Most recently, she has started a new research line, which aims at proposing chemically and geologically plausible pathways for the origin of lipids and proto-compartments, four billion years ago.

Her research is recognized internationally, as evident from competitive funding awarded to her (ERC-Starting/Consolidator, NWO-Veni/Vidi), invitations to speak at conferences across the globe, and her winning the Gold Medal of the Royal Netherlands Chemical Society.

Kiki Lombarts is professor (2013) in physicians’ professional performance at the Amsterdam University Medical Centers, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. She is the founder and leader of the Professional Performance & Compassionate Care research group. She is a fellow at Stanford Medicine’s Presence Center, Stanford University, CA, USA. She is member of the non-executive board of governors of the Amphia Hospital (Breda, the Netherlands), member of the Senate of the University of Amsterdam, member of the ZonMW Program Committee on Gender & Health, member of the Advice Council of the Protestant Theological University, member of the Council of Recommendation of ‘Leading Doctors’ and member of the Committee of Patronage of PPP (Positive Perception Program) – Care.

Professor Arfan Ikram is Professor and Chair of Epidemiology at Erasmus MC, Rotterdam. He also serves as Chair of ZonMw (the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development) and as a member of the Executive Board of the Dutch Research Council (NWO). In addition, he is Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology at Harvard University in Boston, USA, and a member of the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (KHMW).

His research focuses on the onset, preclinical brain changes, and prognosis of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. In particular, he investigates how lifestyle, genetic predisposition, and multi-morbidity influence the course of the disease. His ultimate goal is to develop effective preventive strategies for dementia.

Professor Ikram’s research draws on data from the Rotterdam Study (ERGO), a large-scale population-based cohort involving over 15,000 participants aged 45 and older. This long-running study began in 1990, and participants undergo follow-up examinations every four to six years.

Professor Ikram led the first study worldwide to show a decline in the incidence of dementia over recent decades. Follow-up research demonstrated that one in three cases of dementia may be preventable through well-known lifestyle changes—such as smoking cessation, better blood pressure control, and healthy eating.

Beyond his work on dementia, he has a strong interest in research methodology, especially in the conditions under which causal inferences can be drawn from observational data.

His research has been supported by grants from Erasmus MC, ZonMw, TTW, the Dutch Heart Foundation, Brain Foundation, MS Research Foundation, BBMRI, ERC, EU JPND, IMI, NIH, Alzheimer’s Association, Parkinson’s Foundation, International Foundation for Alzheimer Research, Alzheimer Nederland, and the Janssen Prevention Center.

Professor Anna Akhmanova studied biochemistry and molecular biology at the Moscow State University. She received her PhD in 1997 at the University of Nijmegen. She worked as a post-doc at the Department of Microbiology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Nijmegen and at the Department of Cell Biology at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam. In 2001, she has started her own research group at the Department of Cell Biology at the Erasmus Medical Center. Since 2011, Anna Akhmanova is professor of Cell Biology at Utrecht University.  Akhmanova lab studies  cytoskeletal organisation and trafficking processes, which contribute to cell polarisation, differentiation, vertebrate development and human disease.  The main focus of Akhmanova's  studies is the microtubule cytoskeleton. Her research relies on combining high-resolution live cell imaging and quantitative analysis of cytoskeletal dynamics and in vitro reconstitution of cytoskeleton-based processes.

Professor Akhmanova is a recipient of the ALW Vernieuwingsimpuls VIDI (2001) and VICI awards (2007), an ERC Synergy grant (2013), and Spinoza Prize (2018). In 2022 the the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science has awarded a Gravitation grant to the project IMAGINE! (Innovative Microscopy and Guidance of cells In their Native Environment), a highly collaborative 10-year project led by Anna Akhmanova. Akhmanova is an elected member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW).

Professor Sera Markoff works at the interface of astrophysics and astroparticle physics with a focus on the most extreme objects in the Universe, black holes. 

Originally from the USA, after a BSc in Physics at M.I.T. and a PhD in Theoretical Astrophysics at the University of Arizona in 2000, she moved to Germany as a Humboldt Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy. After that she returned to M.I.T. as a (US) National Science Foundation Astronomy & Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow, and then started as faculty at UvA's Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy in 2006, where since 2017 she is professor of Theoretical High-Energy Astrophysics. She has been awarded several prestigious personal research awards such as the NWO VIDI and VICI, and was co-PI of the seven-institute EU-FP7 Marie Curie Initial Training Network “Black Hole Universe” (2008-2012). In 2014, she was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and in 2015 she was the Tinsley Centennial Visiting Professor at University of Texas, Austin.

Sera finds community organisation, activism and outreach important. She helped set up the Gravitation and Astroparticle Physics Amsterdam (GRAPPA) Centre of Excellence at UvA. She helped found the Women in the Faculty of Science (WiF) network at UvA, along with Prof. Marian Joëls, in 2007, and helped initiate the successful MacGillavry Tenure-track Fellowship for women. She enjoys engaging the public, and beyond giving talks also carries out structural activities with elementary school children from diverse backgrounds. She was awarded the Willem de Graaff prize from the Royal Netherlands Astronomical Society in 2019 for her public outreach activities.

Dr. Odette Scharenborg is an Associate Professor at the Multimedia Computing Group at Delft University of Technology. Her research aims to build inclusive speech technology, i.e. making speech technology available for everyone irrespective of how they speak or what language they speak. In her research, she considers technical aspects as well as ethical and societal aspects of speech technology. Her main focus is speech-to-text systems for underresearched and underresourced speaker groups. She combines different research methodologies, including deep learning, EEG, and human listening experiments.  She received the NWO Talent (2006), Veni (2005) and Vidi (2012) grants, and is the recipient of a Delft Technology Fellowship (2018). 

Since 2017, Odette serves on the Board of the International Speech Communication Association (ISCA), the largest international society on speech science and technology. She founded and chaired the ISCA Diversity committee (2019-2023). She was elected Vice-President (2021-2023) and currently serves as ISCA President (since 2023). In 2025, she will be the General Chair of the largest speech science and technology conference in the world: Interspeech, in Rotterdam.

Odette  has founded and has been involved in several international initiatives related to diversity and inclusion in academia, focusing on gender, LGBTQIA+, and geographical outreach. She enjoys explaining her research to the general public, particularly children, and has appeared in VPRO’s De Dikke Data Show (2021) and was elected Talent of the Kinderboekenweek 2021.