About the prize

The Science & SciLifeLab Prize for Young Scientists was established in 2013. A global Prize aimed at rewarding scientists at an early stage of their careers.

Science, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and SciLifeLab, joined forces in creating the Science & SciLifeLab Prize for Young Scientists to recognize excellence amongst young researchers from around the world. The Prize was launched with the vision to recognize that global economic health is dependent upon a vibrant research community. A vision that will only come true if we encourage our best and brightest to continue in their chosen fields of research.

Considering the difficult economic environment for budding scientists, it is crucial that we provide them with extra encouragement as they begin their scientific careers.

The international Prize is awarded annually to four young scientists for outstanding life science research based on a doctoral degree earned in the previous two years. Each year, a Grand Prize winner is selected from the applicants to receive 30,000 USD in prize money and the three other category winners are awarded 10,000 USD each for their accomplishments.

The Science/AAAS and SciLifeLab Prize committee is looking forward towards reviewing the research findings from future entrants!

The grand prize winning essay will be published in Science and essays from the three category winners will be published online.

In addition, all four winners of the Science & SciLifeLab Prize for Young Scientists will be invited to Sweden in December 2023 to participate in a unique week filled with events in honor of science. Here they will have the opportunity to meet with leading scientists in their field of research and create life-long connections to support their career.

The annual award ceremony and banquet is held in the Grand Hôtel Hall of Mirrors in Stockholm – the original venue of the Nobel Prize banquet.

Prize Categories

Ecology & Environment

Scientific research areas for prize awards

Each year the Science and SciLifeLab Prize for Young Scientists focuses on four important fields of life science research to select winners for the annual awards. The Grand Prize winner can be from any of the four categories, and additional winners are chosen from each of the remaining three life science categories.

Ecology & Environment is one of this year’s categories.

Research in  Ecology and Environment encompasses interactions between organisms and their environment, and how these processes are influenced by human activity.

What are ecology and environmental science?

Ecology is the scientific analysis and study of interactions among organisms and their environment. Ecology as a science plays an important role in our understanding of various ecosystems. It is an interdisciplinary field that includes both biology and earth science, but is a separate area of study from environmentalism, natural history, and environmental science.

Environmental science focuses on the interactions between the physical, chemical, and biological components of the environment, including their effects on all types of organisms. To many people, environmental science specifically refers to the impact of humans on the environment.

So what is the difference between ecology and environmental science? One important difference between them is the goal of research in each discipline. Generally speaking, environmental science is a broader field that incorporates many elements of earth and life sciences, whereas ecology is usually more focused on how organisms interact with each other and their surroundings, and often on a very specific population of living things.

Ecologists may also focus on specific interactions within a group, such as food preferences, mating habits, predatory patterns or migration. They use careful observation and data to explain developmental and evolutionary adaptions that many influence a species and study how biodiversity affects populations. Ecologists study issues such as population size, diversity, distribution and prevalence of specific organisms, as well as the competition between them and among different ecosystems.

For environmental scientists, the focus may be on much broader systems or ecosystems, and the impact of various outside factors on the ecosystem.

Some issues studied by ecologists may include:

• Life processes, interactions and adaptations of a specific species
• The influence of environment factors on populations of organisms
• Progression of changes in ecosystems
• The abundance and distribution of organisms in an environment
• Biodiversity within an ecosystem

For environmental science, key issues may include:

• How urban areas drive environmental change
• Material demands of production and human consumption on biodiversity
• The impact of local environmental changes at the global level
• Changes in environment over long periods
• Effects of human populations on specific ecosystems
• Sustainability studies