Apply for the LEO Foundation Awards. A boost to young talents.

The LEO Foundation Awards – worth USD 100,000 – recognize outstanding young researchers and scientists from around the world whose work represents an extraordinary contribution to skin research and has the potential to pave the way for new and improved treatments for skin diseases.

The award was born out of the aim of advancing the understanding and treatment of skin diseases and strengthening the pipeline of excellent dermatology researchers. It recognizes promising young talents and hopefully provides a boost to their future careers.

The award is well aligned with the Foundation’s goal of continually promoting and advancing skin research.

Since the first LEO Foundation Award in 2008, more than 30 scientists have received the award.

Award self-nomination deadlines

The award is applied for in open competition.

Three awards are made each year, one in each of the regions: Americas, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) and Asia-Pacific. Each award is worth USD 100,000.

Submission period will open at least four weeks prior to each deadline.

Grant		Opens	Deadline
	Research grants in open competition 2023 – round 1	01 Feb 2023	28 Feb 2023	Closed
To support the best dermatology research projects worldwide. It is important that the applicant carefully reads the application guide before initiating the application process, as this document contains the complete call as well as detailed instructions for the application process. The application guide can be found here. DEADLINE: 28 February 2023 (16:00 CET) Online application
	Research grants in open competition 2023 – round 2	22 May 2023	23 Jun 2023	Not open
To support the best dermatology research projects worldwide. It is important that the applicant carefully reads the application guide before initiating the application process, as this document contains the complete call as well as detailed instructions for the application process. The application guide can be found here. DEADLINE: 23 June 2023 (16:00 CEST) Online application
	Research grants in open competition 2023 – round 3	01 Aug 2023	31 Aug 2023	Not open
To support the best dermatology research projects worldwide. It is important that the applicant carefully reads the application guide before initiating the application process, as this document contains the complete call as well as detailed instructions for the application process. The application guide can be found here. DEADLINE: 31 August 2023 (16:00 CEST) Online application
	Education and awareness grants 2023 – round 1	15 Feb 2023	14 Mar 2023	Closed
To strengthen the pipeline of future researchers within the fields of medicine, chemistry, and pharmacy, and to raise awareness about science, including skin and skin diseases. It is important that the applicant carefully reads the application guide before initiating the application process, as this document contains the complete call as well as detailed instructions for the application process. The application guide can be found here. Apply by mail here
	Education and awareness grants 2023 – round 2	29 May 2023	04 Jul 2023	Not open
To strengthen the pipeline of future researchers within the fields of medicine, chemistry, and pharmacy, and to raise awareness about science, including skin and skin diseases. It is important that the applicant carefully reads the application guide before initiating the application process, as this document contains the complete call as well as detailed instructions for the application process. The application guide can be found here. Apply by mail here
	Education and awareness grants 2023 – round 3	15 Aug 2023	14 Sep 2023	Not open
To strengthen the pipeline of future researchers within the fields of medicine, chemistry, and pharmacy, and to raise awareness about science, including skin and skin diseases. It is important that the applicant carefully reads the application guide before initiating the application process, as this document contains the complete call as well as detailed instructions for the application process. The application guide can be found here. Apply by mail here
	LEO Foundation Award 2023 – Region EMEA	01 Jan 2023	29 Jan 2023	Closed
The LEO Foundation Award was born out of the aim of advancing the understanding and treatment of skin diseases and strengthening the pipeline of excellent dermatology researchers. It recognizes promising young talents and hopefully provides a boost to their future careers. Three awards are made each year, one in each of the regions: Americas, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) and Asia-Pacific. Each award is worth USD 100,000. The application guide can be found here. DEADLINE for self-nomination: Next deadline (2024) will be announced when ready. Online application
	LEO Foundation Award 2023 – Region Americas	01 Jan 2023	29 Jan 2023	Closed
The LEO Foundation Award was born out of the aim of advancing the understanding and treatment of skin diseases and strengthening the pipeline of excellent dermatology researchers. It recognizes promising young talents and hopefully provides a boost to their future careers. Three awards are made each year, one in each of the regions: Americas, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) and Asia-Pacific. Each award is worth USD 100,000. The application guide can be found here. DEADLINE for self-nomination: Next deadline (2024) will be announced when ready. Online application
	LEO Foundation Award 2023 – Region Asia-Pacific	01 Jan 2023	29 Jan 2023	Closed
The LEO Foundation Award was born out of the aim of advancing the understanding and treatment of skin diseases and strengthening the pipeline of excellent dermatology researchers. It recognizes promising young talents and hopefully provides a boost to their future careers. Three awards are made each year, one in each of the regions: Americas, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) and Asia-Pacific. Each award is worth USD 100,000. The application guide can be found here. DEADLINE for self-nomination: Next deadline (2024) will be announced when ready. Online application

Guidance

The applicant:

Is an active scientist within skin-related research.
Is able to demonstrate scientific merits in the form of at least 5 peer-reviewed first author or co-first author publications within skin-related research.
Has his/her primary workplace within the relevant region at the time of being selected as awardee.
Is between 30 and 40 years of age at the time of being selected as awardee. Natural and reasonable career breaks such as paternity/maternity leave, military service or the like may be deducted.

Please read the application guide thoroughly and complete your application accordingly.

Application guide (PDF download)

Award terms and conditions

Applicants can not:

Have commercial or cosmetic/aesthetic research as his/her primary focus.
Have personal or financial ties to LEO Pharma, including involvement in e.g. sponsored studies or clinical trials at PI level.
Be an earlier recipient of a LEO Foundation Award.
Be an earlier recipient of another prize or award (personal or for research) exceeding a value of USD 50,000. Regular research grants are exempt from this requirement.

Application process

The LEO Foundation will ensure an independent and unbiased evaluation process in which all applications will be evaluated based on the same criteria and towards the same scientific level.

It will normally take approx. three months from application deadline to award decision.

If you are selected as awardee, you become a LEO Foundation Alumni and you will be requested to participate and contribute at two events within three years following your receipt of the award.

The LEO Foundation will agree on events and contributions with all awardees.

Evaluation process

Once the call deadline has expired, the Foundation’s secretariat screens your application for formal requirements and if approved, sends it to an independent expert committee for evaluation. The evaluation process follows the path illustrated below.

The Foundation generally uses committees consisting of internationally recognized, independent experts to evaluate the applications for grants and awards that are submitted in open competition.

Global Review Panel

All panel members represent their respective society in region Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific.

American Society for Investigative Dermatology (SID):

Committee member	Titles
Aimee S Payne	Professor, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (USA)
Sam Hwang	Professor, University of California, Davis Sacramento (USA)
Valentina Greco	Professor, Yale University, New Haven (USA)

European Society for Dermatological Research (ESDR):

Committee member	Titles
Christoph Schlapbach	Professor, Inselspital, Bern (Switzerland)
Andrea Szegedi	Professor, University of Debrecen, Debrecen (Hungary)
Kaisa Tasanen	Professor, University of Oulu, Oulu (Finland)

Taiwanese Society for Investigative Dermatology (TSID) Korean Society for Investigative Dermatology (KSID) Japanese Society for Investigative Dermatology (JSID):

Committee member	Titles
Cheng-Che Eric Lan	Professor, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung (Taiwan)
Hei Sung Kim	Professor, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul (Republic of Korea)
Makoto Sugaya	Professor, International University of Health and Welfare, Tokyo (Japan)