She has deciphered the oldest modern human genome, and Chinese scientists have won the first Alfonsan Prize from UNESCO | Field | Chinese Scientists
On the afternoon of June 19, 2023 local time, at the award ceremony of the first Alefuzan Prize held by UNESCO in Paris, France, researcher Fu Qiaomei from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences was awarded the International Award for Outstanding Young Scientists in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics of Alefuzan by UNESCO, in recognition of his important original work in constructing the early population genetic history of Eurasia through the ancient genome, and bringing new insights into human health and adaptation from the perspective of evolution.
This award is the first international award established by UNESCO since 2022 aimed at promoting the work of young scientists in the STEM field. It is presented every two years to five young awardees working in the STEM field, to recognize and reward scientists for their achievements at the national, regional, and global levels that are conducive to promoting capacity building, scientific development, and socio-economic development, thereby promoting education, scientific progress, scientific popularization, and international cooperation in the STEM field.
As one of the leading scientists in the field of international paleogenetics, Fu Qiaomei stood out from 2500 global candidates in this award selection, becoming the first Chinese scientist to receive this award.
She has been engaged in paleogenetics research for a long time, mainly exploring important scientific issues related to the origin and evolution of human beings around ancient DNA. Over the past decade, we have developed key technologies for ancient DNA and made many significant international research findings in the genetic characteristics of early humans in Eurasia, gene exchange and migration history between populations, such as deciphering the genomes of the oldest modern humans in the world and East Asia, unlocking the map of Eurasian populations during the Ice Age, systematically drawing the dynamic genetic history of populations in East Asia over the past 40000 years, and uncovering the adaptive evolution characteristics of modern humans in East Asia. So far, he has published 63 papers in international SCI journals, with over 10000 citations. Among them, 36 papers were published as the first or corresponding author, and related research was selected as one of the top ten scientific events in Nature, the top ten new understandings of human origin research in the world, and the top ten advances in Chinese science, which have had a significant international impact. Due to its research significance, it has been named one of the "Top Ten Stars of Science in China" by Nature, and has won awards such as the China Youth Science and Technology Award - Special Award, China Youth Female Scientist Award, Chen Jiageng Youth Science Award - Life Science Award, and Tencent's First Science Exploration Award.
The other four young scientists who won this year are Abdon Atangana from Cameroon, Hesham Omran from Egypt, and Jelena Vladi from Serbia ć、 Federico Ariel from Argentina has won awards for innovative research and promotion in the fields of mathematics, semiconductor chip and microelectronics design, green engineering, and agricultural biotechnology.
Fu Qiaomei and four other winners