Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists National Competition 2027
| To: | Chairs and Administrators, Associate Deans for Research, College/School Research Administrators |
| From: | Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research |
| Date: | September 17, 2026 |
| Subject: | Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists National Competition 2027 |
Deadline
| Deadline for Internal Review: | October 14, 2026 |
Project Description
The Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists recognize the United States’ most promising faculty-rank researchers in Life Sciences, Physical Sciences & Engineering, and Chemical Sciences.
Nominees and their work as independent investigators will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
- Quality: The extent to which the work is reliable, valid, credible, and scientifically rigorous.
- Impact: The extent to which the work addresses an important problem and is influential in the nominee’s field.
- Novelty: The extent to which the work challenges existing paradigms, employs original methodologies or concepts, and/or pursues an original question.
- Promise: Future prospects in the nominee’s field and potential for further significant contributions to science.
Amount per award: $250,000 and five finalists in each category will be awarded $15,000.
Duration of award: 1 Year
Number of awards: One Blavatnik National Laureate in each Disciplinary Category
Eligibility
The nominee must:
- Have been born in or after 1985.
- Hold a doctorate degree (PhD, DPhil, MD, DDS, DVM, etc.).
- Currently hold a tenured or tenure-track academic faculty position, or equivalent.
- Currently conduct research as a principal investigator in one of the disciplinary categories in Life Sciences, Physical Sciences & Engineering, or Chemical Sciences.
UW-Madison may submit up to three nominations, one in each disciplinary category.
The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists strive for diverse nominee pools, and strongly encourage the nomination of women and members of other historically underrepresented groups in science and engineering (ex. Black, American Indian, Hispanic/Latinx).
Please note: Each department may submit materials for one researcher to the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists National Competition 2027 internal competition. Applications must be submitted to OVCR through the researcher’s home department.
Website
The following link contains additional information on the program and specific application instructions:
http://blavatnikawards.org/awards/national-awards/
Internal Competition Application Instructions
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, disciplinary category (Life Sciences, Physical Sciences & Engineering, or Chemical Sciences), and a statement indicating that your department chair has reviewed and approved your application and has selected you as the department’s sole nominee for this internal competition.
- 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.
- The research summary should:
- 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 Statement: (Max. 1-page) Please provide a description of your professional service. Topics to discuss include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Teaching and Mentoring: Commitment to supporting student success through teaching and mentorship approaches that are responsive to a wide range of backgrounds, experiences, and learning needs.
- Collaboration and Leadership: Involvement or leadership in committees, task forces, professional societies, or organizations that promote constructive professional culture and open pathways for wider participation in science.
- Service, Engagement, and/or Outreach: A record of engagement or outreach activities (e.g., public science communication, volunteer service, initiatives that connect scientific knowledge and opportunity to broader audiences or communities with limited access to such resources).
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.
Sponsor Deadlines
Applications are due to Blavatnik Family Foundation by December 02, 2026.
Questions?
Contact grants@research.wisc.edu.