image: This is the award winner professor Dame Caroline Dean. view more
Credit: John Innes Centre
A world-leading Norfolk plant scientist is today named as a 2018 L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science laureate.
Professor Dame Caroline Dean OBE, from the John Innes Centre, receives the prestigious award for her, "ground-breaking research on how plants adapt to their surroundings and climate change, leading to new ways for crop improvement."
The L'Oréal Foundation and UNESCO announce the names of five outstanding scientists - one from each continent - who will receive the 2018 L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Awards in life sciences.
The independent jury selected the five outstanding scientists, all of whom are global leaders in their field. The award will be presented at a ceremony on the 22 March 2018 in Paris, on the 20th anniversary of the L'Oreal-UNESCO For Women in Science programme.
Professor Dean says, "It's a great honour to be recognised by the L'Oréal Foundation with this award. I look forward to an exciting year ahead and hope that I can continue to inspire girls and female scientists to follow their curiosity."
Director of the John Innes Centre, Professor Dale Sanders says "Caroline is an excellent role model and ambassador for women in science. Her passion and drive for her science is inspiring and she works with outstanding enthusiasm to encourage more women to aspire to be scientists and to reach their full potential. She is a shining example to us all."
The L'Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science Awards celebrate the many eminent women in science all over the world, and in particular they expose the under-representation of women in prestigious awards.
This year they highlight that all nine of the Nobel Prizes for science in 2017 were awarded to men, and since the creation of the Nobel Prizes in science, fewer than 3% have been awarded to women. Yet, eminent women in science are numerous as this award demonstrates.
For almost 20 years, the L'Oréal Foundation, in partnership with UNESCO, has celebrated 5 exceptional female researchers every year.
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Background information & links:
* Caroline Dean's Webpage
* https://www.womeninscience.co.uk/
Notes for Editors
Contacts
Press Contact: Felicity Perry - Felicity.Perry@jic.ac.uk
Tel: 01603 450269 Out of Hours Tel: 07881 255193
About the John Innes Centre
The John Innes Centre is an independent, international centre of excellence in plant science and microbiology.
Our mission is to generate knowledge of plants and microbes through innovative research, to train scientists for the future, to apply our knowledge of nature's diversity to benefit agriculture, the environment, human health, and wellbeing, and engage with policy makers and the public.
To achieve these goals we establish pioneering long-term research objectives in plant and microbial science, with a focus on genetics. These objectives include promoting the translation of research through partnerships to develop improved crops and to make new products from microbes and plants for human health and other applications. We also create new approaches, technologies and resources that enable research advances and help industry to make new products. The knowledge, resources and trained researchers we generate help global societies address important challenges including providing sufficient and affordable food, making new products for human health and industrial applications, and developing sustainable bio-based manufacturing.
This provides a fertile environment for training the next generation of plant and microbial scientists, many of whom go on to careers in industry and academia, around the world.
The John Innes Centre is strategically funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). In 2015-2016 the John Innes Centre received a total of £30.1 million from the BBSRC.
The John Innes Centre is also supported by the John Innes Foundation through provision of research accommodation and long-term support of the Rotation PhD programme.
The John Innes Centre is the winner of the BBSRC's 2013 - 2016 Excellence with Impact award.
For more information about the John Innes Centre visit our website http://www.jic.ac.uk
About the BBSRC
The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) invests in world-class bioscience research and training on behalf of the UK public. Our aim is to further scientific knowledge, to promote economic growth, wealth and job creation and to improve quality of life in the UK and beyond.
Funded by Government, BBSRC invested over £473M in world-class bioscience in 2015-16. We support research and training in universities and strategically funded institutes. BBSRC research and the people we fund are helping society to meet major challenges, including food security, green energy and healthier, longer lives. Our investments underpin important UK economic sectors, such as farming, food, industrial biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.
For more information about BBSRC, our science and our impact see: http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk
For more information about BBSRC strategically funded institutes see: http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/institutes
Felicity Perry | Head of Communications and Engagement
John Innes Centre and The Sainsbury Laboratory
+44 1603 450269 | +44 7881 255193