WinSci Pakistan wins Nature's 2025 Science Outreach award and US$50,000
The Lahore organisation cofounded by Cambridge materials scientist Maheera Abdul Ghani took the outreach category of the Nature Awards for Inspiring Women in Science.
WinSci Pakistan has been named winner of the Science Outreach category of the 2025 Nature Awards for Inspiring Women in Science, Nature and The Estée Lauder Companies announced on 16 October 2025. The prize is US$50,000, to be spent on the organisation's work, along with mentoring from Estée Lauder and publicity through Nature.
The award was accepted by cofounder Maheera Abdul Ghani at a ceremony at the Science Museum in London, according to The Estée Lauder Companies. The press release describes WinSci Pakistan as working with disadvantaged young people in Pakistan, mainly girls, through STEM courses, mentoring and financial awards. The runner up was Technolochicas, a programme in Mexico and the United States. The Scientific Achievement award went to Sue Han Lee of Swinburne University of Technology in Malaysia.
Springer Nature said the two categories drew 480 submissions from more than 50 countries. Ghani completed her PhD in Cambridge's 2D Materials and Devices Group and now works there as a postdoctoral researcher on dielectrics for atomically thin semiconductors, the department said in its own announcement on 27 October 2025. WinSci Pakistan, based in Lahore, is run with her sisters Maheen and Noor Abdul Ghani and a team of student interns, according to its website.
