Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists National Competition 2026

Applications for Internal Review

To submit your application, attach a single PDF to an email to: grants@research.wisc.edu

Please include the following information:

• Cover Page: including name, title, contact information, and disciplinary category (Life Sciences, Physical Sciences & Engineering, or Chemical Sciences).
• Curriculum Vitae: (Please see the Blavatnik Nomination Materials & Instructions for format).
• Research Summary: (Max. 1,000 words)
  • The research summary should:
    • Be written in the first person by the nominee;
    • Describe up to five of the nominee’s most significant scientific contributions and research accomplishments from their independent career;
    • Be written to be accessible to another scientist working in their overarching disciplinary category (e.g., Life Sciences) but not in their specific field of study (e.g., Neuroscience);
    • Include key results, their impact on the nominee’s field of study, and the nominee’s specific role in the described work (especially where the nominee is involved in large collaborations);
    • Exclude information about the nominee’s positions, awards, and service activities, or other information contained in the CV.

    One figure illustrating the most significant results is allowed. Citations and figure caption do not count toward the word limit.

• Rationale for Nomination: (Max. 200 words)
  • A statement from the department chair that explains why the nominee should be selected by the institution. This should detail the nominee’s strong record of significant independent scientific contributions, early career success, and promise of sustained or accelerated progress in the future.

• Professional Service and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement: (Max. 1-page) describing outreach activities and/or professional service, with particular focus on activities and service related to increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the scientific community. Topics to discuss include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • Teaching and Mentoring: Commitment to teaching and mentoring students, especially to utilizing practices that better serve those of demographics and/or social backgrounds historically underrepresented in science and engineering;
  • Collaboration and Leadership: Involvement or leadership in committees, task force groups, professional societies, and organizations;
  • Service, Engagement, and/or Outreach: A record of community engagement or outreach activities (e.g., volunteer activities, communicating science to the public, etc.);
  • Research: Current and/or planned research relevant to underserved populations or inequalities, or issues relevant to DEI, such as race, gender, sexuality, health disparities, human rights, educational access, disability, etc.

All nomination materials should focus on the nominee’s independent career. A nominee’s “independent career” encompasses any research or work performed as an independent research scientist. In most cases, this work will have been performed after a postdoctoral appointment or doctoral thesis has been completed.