The Sisters in Science, Noor Abdulhussain, Lotte Schreuders and Mimi den Uijl, have been awarded the KNCV Van Marumpenning 2022 for their contribution to the visibility of chemistry and its practitioners among a wide audience. The award will be presented on 13 October during the Evening of Chemistry, which will take place in Leiden this year.

Abdulhussain and Den Uijl are PhD students at the Van ’t Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences at the University of Amsterdam, Schreuders is a lecturer in the Chemistry master’s programme, track Analytical Sciences at the same university.

In January 2021, the three sisters started an Instagram account, SistersinScience_NL, in which they introduce their followers to their daily life and work. They explicitly use their own lives and experiences to show something about their research and work, but also about what it means to be a young, female scientist in chemistry. According to the jury, the latter in particular is ‘an innovative aspect, taking them beyond the usual forms of science communication that mainly focus on explaining complex research and the importance of science for society. The Sisters in Science make it personal and don’t shy away from the less pretty sides of a scientific career either.’