Celebrate women in research and the networks that sustain them

"All women in research deserve recognition for the valuable and varied contributions they make - and not just on International Women's Day. In this Editorial, we highlight three outstanding researchers. They are the recipients of the 2026 Sony Women in Technology Award with Nature, announced last month at a ceremony in Tokyo. The three prizes recognize outstanding research that benefits society and the planet."

"Xiwen Gong, a chemical engineer at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, was awarded the early-career prize for her research in materials with uses from renewable energy to health care. One of Gong's interests is solar cells made from a type of crystalline material called a perovskite. These solar cells work similarly to silicon-based ones: they produce electrons after absorbing light."

"These perovskites have potential advantages over silicon, because they produce electrons more efficiently and the layers of light-absorbing material can be thinner. This means that they should require less energy to manufacture and, ultimately, will be cheaper to produce. But they are less stable: their structure can change after exposure to factors such as light, heat and moisture, making them less reliable."

International Women's Day celebrates women's contributions to research globally. Nature launched a special collection recognizing remarkable female researchers and addressing gender equality challenges in science. The 2026 Sony Women in Technology Award recipients exemplify outstanding contributions benefiting society and the planet. Xiwen Gong, a chemical engineer at the University of Michigan, received the early-career prize for research in advanced materials. Her work focuses on perovskite solar cells, which offer advantages over traditional silicon-based cells by producing electrons more efficiently with thinner light-absorbing layers, requiring less manufacturing energy and reducing production costs. However, perovskites face stability challenges when exposed to light, heat, and moisture.

Read at Nature