The WiEST Development Grant, rebranded from 'WiEST Conference Grant' on 7 November 2021, is Women@NTU and POWERS commitment in supporting  women engineers, scientists, and technologists embarking on their early careers.  The WiEST Development Grant enables activities beyond networking and attending conferences to include professional and personal development courses that offer expanded exposure and learning opportunities to acquire essential skillsets to succeed in STEM. 

The WiEST Conference Grant first called in 2017 to celebrate Marie Curie's 150th birthday anniversary and was first awared in 2018 with the support of Julia & Ken Gouw Foundation and matching funds from NTU's College of Engineering and College of Science. In 2019, Micron joined the programme to support two awards for Women in Technology (WiT) category. In 2021, Micron increased its commitments to support an additional award in the WIT category, and NTU's Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine Medicine joined force to support two awards in the Women in Science category. Micron further its commitment to a total of four awards in 2022 and in 2024, the National Institute of Education and the then new College of Computing and Data Science started their commitment to supporting the development of women in STEM.

Programme

Recipients in this programme will receive a one-time Development Grant of $3,000 to cover the attending of the technical conference and professional and personal development courses in their respective fields.

Awardees will be selected from each College with the following distribution:

• Women in Engineering by College of Engineering (6 awards)
  • School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering (CCEB) / Chemical or Bio Engineering
  • School of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)
  • School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE)
  • School of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE)
  • School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE)
• Women in Science/Technology by College of Computing and Data Science (up to 2 awards)
• Women in Science by College of Science (6 awards)
  • Asian School of the Environment (ASE) - 2 awards
  • School of Biological Sciences (SBS) - 2 awards 
  • School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (SPMS) - 1 award
  • School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering (CCEB) / Chemistry - 1 award
• Women in Science by LKC School of Medicine (3 awards) - since 2021
  
• Women in Science by National Institute of Education (2 awards) - since 2024
• Women in Technology by Micron (3 awards) - launched in 2019 for 2, increased in 2021 for 3, and 2022 for 4 awards

Eligibility

Application is open to women in their 3rd and 4th year of PhD studies or in their early career (within two years of the start of the first postdoc) in the fields of the Schools under the College of Engineering, College of Science, College of Computing and Data Science, LKC School of Medicine, and National Institute of Education. Students in the Interdisciplinary Graduate Programme with projects in the stated Colleges and Schools are eligible to apply.

Required Documents for Submission

1. Online application form
2. Curriculum vitae (includes qualifications, employment records and list of scientific publications)
   
3. Letter of recommendation from a supervisor
4. Statement of purpose (highlighting the scientific contributions and aspirations)
   • Font: Times new roman
   • Font size: 12 pt
   • Line spacing: 1.5
   • Margin: 1”
   • up to 2 pages (A4 paper)

Application & Grant Period 

• The grant calls annually on 7 November during the WO+MEN fEST event.
• All applicants are to submit their application packages by 31 December, 23:59 hours.
• The awardees will be announced within 2 months of the submission deadline and the award presentation will follow accordingly.
• The grant must be utilised by 31 December of the year of the award.

Reporting Requirements

• Approvals must be sought from the Colleges through Women@NTU prior to attending conferences or development courses.
• Within one month of their return, each awardee will submit a 1-2-page report and the award will be disbursed.

How to Apply

• Submit the online application form and the required documents.
• Application portal will open on 7 November.