Five early-career female researchers from Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean are to be honoured with US$5,000 Elsevier Foundation Awards in a programme to encourage women to pursue science in nations that lack scientific expertise, resources and gender equality. “They are not given the opportunity to do good science,” says Peter McGrath, a programme officer for co-sponsor TWAS, the academy of sciences for the developing world in Trieste, Italy. “This is a way to bring their work to the international forefront.” Nominations for researchers from 81 eligible nations who earned PhDs in the past 10 years will be accepted until 30 September.