The initiative is in partnership with the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and UNESCO in Brazil.

This award, which is in its 18th edition, recognizes and encourages women researchers who over the previous year have implemented innovative projects in the life sciences, physics, mathematics, and chemistry. The selected researchers receive R$ 50,000 to carry out their projects at institutions in Brazil during the next 12 months.

Teixeira was recognized in the Physical Sciences category and has undergraduate degrees in Physics and Medical Physics, as well as a master’s and doctorate in Materials Science and Engineering from the Federal University of Sergipe (UFS). She is currently involved in the planning, commissioning, and operation of the Carnaúba beamline at Sirius. Teixeira was born in Itabaiana, Sergipe, and works in the area of condensed matter physics, specifically developing scintillating nanomaterials and understanding the mechanisms of energy transfer in order to control how they emit light when exposed to X-rays.

About the importance of women and girls participating in science, she emphasizes that “Science is diverse, plural, and regardless of gender, everyone can occupy this space. Science does not separate, it embraces. So it doesn’t make sense to exclude a group because of gender. Each person can help to construct this large field that is science.”

Besides research and development, Teixeira is also closely involved with teaching and outreach activities such as ESPEM (the Sirius School for High School Teachers) and the Ilum School of Science, both at CNPEM.

This is the second time a CNPEM researcher has received the “Pelas Mulheres na Ciência” award; in 2021, LNLS researcher Ingrid Barcelos was also recognized in the Physical Sciences category, for her work investigating the properties of soapstone and the potential of Brazilian materials as supports for nanophotonic devices.