Nominations are now open for the WiE PhD Thesis Award 2027. The award celebrates exceptional PhD research led by women in robotics, automation and related IEEE RAS fields. It recognises technical excellence, originality, societal impact and research leadership, and showcases role models for the next generation of researchers.

Eligibility

• Identify as a woman
• Awarded a PhD in robotics, automation or a related field between 1 November 2025 and 31 December 2026, at a recognised university or research institution
• Member of IEEE RAS at the time of nomination

Nomination materials

• Thesis manuscript (final version, shareable link) and thesis abstract
• Summary of contributions and impact: key scientific contributions, technical innovations, resulting publications, and impact on the field and community
• CV (max. 2 pages)
• Letters of recommendation (highly recommended): PhD advisor, and an external reviewer or committee member
• Official proof of PhD conferral from the home institution
• Optional: supplementary material such as selected publications or links to demonstrations

Deadline: 15 February 2027, 11:59pm AoE

Submit a nomination

Questions about eligibility can be sent to [email protected].

Congratulations to the two winners of the 2026 WiE PhD Thesis Award!

Nana Obayashi (presented at ICRA 2026)

Nana completed her PhD in Mechanics at EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) in 2025, supervised by Prof. Josie Hughes. Her doctoral research focused on the design optimisation of robots that exploit soft body–fluid interactions, including scalable fish-inspired robots (ScaFi), advancing bio-inspired and soft robotic design at the interface of mechanics and fluid dynamics. Nana is a 2024 Amelia Earhart Fellow and a 2025 RSS Pioneer. She undertook a postdoctoral visit to the University of Cambridge with Prof. Fumiya Iida and is now faculty at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering.

Rachel Holladay (presented at IROS 2026)

Rachel completed her PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT in 2024, advised by Prof. Tomás Lozano-Pérez and Prof. Alberto Rodriguez, as a member of the LIS Group and the MCube Lab. Her research enables robots to robustly perform long-horizon, contact-rich manipulation tasks in everyday environments, with models and algorithms that exploit the physics and geometry of the world to tackle long-horizon decision-making and acting under uncertainty. Rachel is now the Asness Family Foundation Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics at the University of Pennsylvania, where she is primary faculty in the GRASP Lab and leads the Autonomous Manipulation @ Penn (AMP) Lab.