The Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) has selected winners for the Fifth Marie Sklodowska Curie Award for young female researchers.
For the Fifth Marie Sklodowska Curie Award, we accepted applications from October 1 to December 10, 2025. Through document screenings and interviews with external experts, we have selected one Grand Prize winner and two Inspiration Prize winners. In addition, considering the efforts of other applicants who meet the criteria for the award and deserve appreciation, we also selected one Recognition Prize winner.
JEOL Ltd. will award 1M yen for the Grand Prize, 500K yen for each Inspiration Prize, and 300K yen for the Recognition Prize. In addition, the Grand Prize winner will be offered an opportunity to visit research institutions in Poland—where Maria was born and raised—through the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Japan and the Polish Academy of Sciences.
The Winners of the Fifth Marie Sklodowska Curie Award
Grand Prize Winner
Yuko Kuroki
Data & AI Researcher, Intesa Sanpaolo AI Research (Italy)
Research field: Information Science
Inspiration Prize Winners
Ami Kobayashi
Distinguished Senior Assistant Professor (Principal Investigator), Department of Medical Science and Innovation, Institute of Medical Research, Tohoku University
Research field: Neuroscience
Sonomi Yamaguchi
HFSP Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Cancer Immunology and Virology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (United States of America)
Research field: Phage Biology, Structural Biology, Biochemistry
Recognition Prize Winner
Mariko Morimoto
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame (United States of America)
Research field: Chemical Biology, Immunology, Cancer Biology
About the Marie Sklodowska Curie Award
JST recognizes the importance of initiatives designed to promote the activities of female researchers in science, technology, and innovation, and based on this belief we established the “Marie Sklodowska Curie Award” in 2021, together with the Embassy of the Republic of Poland, for awarding young female researchers who are expected to flourish across the world. The award’s namesake, Dr. Marie Sklodowska Curie, was recognized for her achievements in her early thirties and later won two Nobel Prizes. The award honors her great contribution and achievements to the development of science and technology, and we hope her example will inspire the ambitions of Japanese female researchers.
While the latter half of the doctoral program and the first few years after obtaining doctoral degrees are the most promising period for female researchers to make great strides as independent researchers, it is also true that they often face various life events during this period. By honoring the achievements of the winners and making them widely recognized, we hope that this award will support them to take a leap forward with their passion and flexibility as well as to foster the next generation of female researchers.
For more information, please refer to the website.
URL: https://www.jst.go.jp/diversity/en/OurEfforts/mscaward/index.html