2025 Youth for Biosecurity Fellowship Cohort

20 Youth for Biosecurity Fellows were selected through a competitive process after more than 2400 applications from over 100 countries were received. We are grateful to the 2025 Youth for Biosecurity Fellowship Jury Panel for supporting the selection process. The Jury Panel was composed of eight experienced young professionals in biosecurity policy.

2025 Youth for Biosecurity Fellowship Jury Panel:

• Faizan Ahmad – Youth for Biosecurity Fellow 2024
• Greg Butchello, Program Officer – Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI)
• Nancy Connell, Professor Emerita – New Jersey Medical School
• Alonso Flores – Youth for Biosecurity Fellow 2024
• Darja Könnig, Project Manager – Global Health Security Fund
• Joyce Fati Masvaya – Youth for Biosecurity Fellow 2024
• Yala Sampaio – Youth for Biosecurity Fellow 2024
• Lizeka Tandwa, Lecturer – University of the Witwatersrand

The early-career scientists listed below, who represent 20 countries from the Global South, will take part in a three-month Fellowship programme, featuring five online Biosecurity Diplomacy Workshops and an in-person study visit to Geneva during the meeting of the BWC Working Group on the Strengthening of the Convention in August 2025.

The experience aims to create space for dialogue between young scientists and BWC practitioners, as well as opportunities to equip the fellows with the knowledge, skills, and network to advance the next generation’s aspirations for global biosecurity in the margins of BWC official meetings.

Click on the Fellows’ names for their complete biographies!