ShanghaiJune 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — On the occasion of the 10th National Science and Technology Workers’ Day, coinciding with the 2026 National Science and Technology Activity Week, L’Oréal officially announced the upgraded mentor lineup for its “Generation to Generation” Tech Girls Empowerment Program, simultaneously launching the recruitment of program participants. This year, the program innovatively established a “three-generation hand-in-hand” empowerment chain featuring “female scientists + young tech workers + tech girls,” inviting eight outstanding female scientists to serve as mentors, covering four major fields: environmental science, life science, information science, and engineering technology. Through a diverse disciplinary layout, it provides middle school girls in the program with progressive opportunities from “seeing science” to “doing science,” breaking down the distance barriers of traditional science empowerment and driving research from “only to be viewed from afar” to “within reach.” Southern Weekly conducted an in-depth report on this program, allowing more people to witness this “three-generation hand-in-hand” scientific relay.
On May 27, 2026, L’Oréal China officially announced the scientist mentor team for the 2026 “Generation to Generation” Tech Girls Empowerment Program.
I. Bringing the “For Women in Science” Program to China
In 2004, after conducting research and surveys on the status of female scientists in China, Lan Zhenzhen increasingly recognized: “The lack of role models is the first barrier preventing more girls from pursuing science. The group of female scientists deserves to be seen.”
That same year, as the initiator and founder of the L’Oréal “For Women in Science” program in China, Lan Zhenzhen, with support from headquarters, fully introduced this global project to China, establishing the “China Young Female Scientist Award.”
Over two decades later, as a witness and steward of the entire project, Lan Zhenzhen has witnessed the rise of female scientific research power in China. As of 2024, 204 female science and technology workers have received the “China Young Female Scientist Award,” with 13 of them becoming academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. “We have proven that women can shine at the pinnacle of science,” Lan Zhenzhen said.
However, globally, UNESCO research shows that women currently account for less than one-third of researchers worldwide, and only 26% of workers in technical fields such as data and artificial intelligence. In China, despite the large total number of female science and technology workers, among the 144 newly elected academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2025, only 13 were women, accounting for about 9%; among national talent program selectees, women account for only about 10%. From a “large base” to “extreme scarcity at the top,” a significant number of female science and technology talents are lost during the critical transition from ordinary researchers to senior scientists—this is the long-standing “leaky pipeline effect” in the scientific community.
The experience of Feng Xiaojuan, winner of the 19th China Young Female Scientist Award and researcher at the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, serves as a vivid footnote along this “leaky pipeline.” As a leading scientist in the field of soil carbon cycling, her team has uncovered the molecular secrets of the soil carbon pool, making innovative contributions to global climate change research. Yet, looking back on her own growth path, she too had to break through external stereotypes and biases. She often says, “If you choose the path of scientific research, you must persevere. Persist one step further, and you will see the difference.” Feng Xiaojuan’s experience is not an isolated case but a microcosm of the structural difficulties commonly encountered by countless female researchers.
Feng Xiaojuan in the laboratory.
The root of the problem often begins at an earlier stage. In the “For Women in Science” program, a national cognitive survey of high school students revealed a striking finding: up to 88% of high school girls have a strong interest in science, but only 38% are willing to pursue a career in science, which is 18 percentage points lower than boys of the same age.
In other words, the vast majority of girls do not get lost along the long academic ladder—they stop before they even start. Gender stereotypes in society, a lack of hands-on opportunities during middle school, and the absence of real scientific research scenarios collectively create a cognitive gap for women between “being interested in science” and “embarking on a scientific career.” To break this gap requires not only policy support and honors but, more importantly, enabling women to transition from being bystanders to genuine participants—to experience, to undergo, and to reshape.
Previous tech girls visiting the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Notably, this dilemma has entered the national strategic vision. In July 2025, China announced the establishment of the Global Digital Empowerment for Women Development Exchange and Cooperation Center, aimed at bridging the gender digital divide and supporting the cultivation of female digital talent worldwide.
The favorable policy winds have begun to blow, but real change must reach every individual girl. The upgrade of the 2026 “Generation to Generation” Tech Girls Empowerment Program is a systematic response to this—enabling girls to move from “seeing science” to “doing science,” allowing curiosity to take root and interest to grow.
“Igniting a passion for science is important, but what’s even more crucial is making that passion burn continuously,” Lan Zhenzhen said. “What we need to do is add the first piece of firewood for every girl with a scientific dream.”
II. Program Upgrade: Building a Sustainable and Replicable “Hematopoietic” Empowerment Ecosystem
The most core innovations of the upgraded program lie in two “firsts”: for the first time, young tech workers are incorporated into the core empowerment system; for the first time, a “tripartite authoritative alliance” model for industry-academia-research public welfare integration is created. These two innovations fundamentally change the limitations of a “blood transfusion” style of project support, constructing a sustainable and replicable “hematopoietic” empowerment ecosystem.
Extending from the three-step strategy of scientist school lectures, science scene visits, and co-creation of popular science videos, to a five-month in-depth research practice and results release, it forms a complete closed loop from “curiosity” to “approach,” then to “participation” and “achievement.”
This upgrade did not come out of nowhere but is based on deep reflection on “what can truly retain girls’ interest in science.” A single “seeing” can ignite passion, but only hands-on operation and experiencing failure and success firsthand can transform passion into lasting conviction. This is precisely why the program has made “five-month in-depth research practice” its core module.
This year, eight female scientists will serve as project mentors. They come from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and renowned universities, with research directions covering four major fields: environmental science, life science, information science, and engineering technology. Xu Ying, a researcher at the Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, focuses on navigation technology; Chen Yan, Chair Professor at Tianjin University, researches origami engineering and deployable space structures; Huang Hui, a researcher at the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, is deeply involved in coral reef protection and restoration; Feng Xiaojuan, a researcher at the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, is dedicated to soil carbon cycling and global change research—from satellite navigation to aerospace engineering, from deep-sea mysteries to Earth’s ecology, the diverse disciplinary layout opens broad scientific windows for girls with different interests.
Models made by Lu Jing and her team.
Lu Jing, a researcher at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and an “academic grand-disciple” of Zhang Miman, is also one of the scientists set to become mentors. In the future, tech girls entering her project group will start from reviewing literature, then move to computer operation, acquiring CT data, performing 3D segmentation and comparative anatomy, and finally presenting their results.
The female scientist mentors will serve as role models and a source of confidence for tech girls entering the lab for the first time to overcome their fears. They will work side by side to delve into cutting-edge scientific issues, jointly facing repeated setbacks in research and regrouping time and again. As Feng Xiaojuan recalled the mentoring effect of her own teachers during her studies, “Seeing how far she could go, I knew I could reach there too in the future, and that gave me a lot of courage.”
But having only senior scientists at the helm is not enough to support every girl through the entire journey. Each project group is equipped with 5-10 outstanding master’s and doctoral students, selected by the scientist team. They are called “young tech workers”—both the backbone of research and the scientific mentors for the girls. “The scientist will select new research directions from her field, leading the team to advance the project and achieve results,” explained the project leader. “The young tech workers in the team have more time and can teach the girls hands-on how to review literature, conduct experiments, and analyze data, just like friendly senior students.”
In addition to incorporating young tech workers into the empowerment system to form a “three-generation hand-in-hand” chain of “female scientists + young tech workers + tech girls,” the program has also established a strict recruitment and selection mechanism for tech girls: in the cities where the female scientists are based, recruitment is conducted through a combination of recommendations from partner schools and independent applications on the official platform, focusing on selecting students who have a passion and potential for science, possess relevant academic foundations, and can commit to full participation. Selected tech girls will use their spare time and summer vacation to invest 60-80 hours in completing a 5-month research project.
“This is not a one-way support chain, but a ‘relay field’ where the spirit of science thrives endlessly,” Lan Zhenzhen said. “Every generation gives, and every generation also receives.”
If the intergenerational empowerment chain solves the “how to teach” problem, then the tripartite alliance of “national research team + national-level public welfare platform + industry-leading enterprise” solves the resource problem of “what to use for teaching.”
On April 27, 2026, L’Oréal China signed a tripartite cooperation agreement with the China Women’s Development Foundation and the Computer Network Information Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Over the next five years, L’Oréal China will donate 10 million yuan to support the program’s development. The three parties each perform their own duties, complementing each other’s strengths, integrating scattered resources into an organic whole, creating a synergistic effect of “1+1+1>3.” Nan Jing, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Women’s Development Foundation, stated that this tripartite cooperation will better support girls in becoming a backbone force in the future scientific field by setting role models and providing systematic empowerment.
“One tree does not make a forest; a single string cannot make music,” Lan Zhenzhen said. “We are not doing one-time charity; we are building an ecosystem. In this ecosystem, there are complete academic resources, a broad public welfare network, and corporate funding and operational support. All three are indispensable.”
III. “Doing What Is Difficult but Right”
When most people’s perception of a beauty company is still limited to “creating external beauty,” L’Oréal has already invested for 28 years on another “invisible battlefield.” From honoring leading female scientists globally to accompanying middle school girls into the laboratory, for this company that is founded on science, empowering female scientific research forces has never been “cross-sector public welfare” but an important part of its core strategy.
This is not only an extension of corporate social responsibility but also an inevitable expression of its inherent scientific genes. L’Oréal’s founder, Eugène Schueller, was a chemist, and the company’s focus on science continues to this day. In 2025, women accounted for 54% of L’Oréal’s global patent inventors. The unique perspectives and creativity of female researchers are an important driving force for L’Oréal’s continuous innovation. Cultivating more women who love science is also about reserving future talent for the entire beauty tech industry.
“Science never presupposes gender, but opportunities are not always equal,” Lan Zhenzhen said. In L’Oréal’s female empowerment landscape, the “Generation to Generation” Tech Girls Empowerment Program is a crucial piece of the puzzle. Internally, L’Oréal has a high proportion of female management and continuously supports the career development of its female employees. Externally, through the “Beauty for a Better Life” public welfare project, it has provided free beauty skills training to over 14,000 women in need from urban and rural areas, helping them achieve economic independence; the “She Guard” project focuses on anti-harassment issues; the “Intimacy Has Boundaries, Love Has No Boundaries” project is dedicated to preventing and stopping intimate partner violence. Empowering tech girls is the link in this long chain that most requires long-termism.
Backstage at the 2025 L’Oréal “Beauty for a Better Life” beauty charity training project graduation ceremony, where trainees created exquisite flower hairpin looks for models.
From a broader perspective, L’Oréal China’s exploration deeply echoes the national strategy. From the “14th Five-Year Plan” to the “15th Five-Year Plan,” the development of female scientific and technological talent has risen from departmental documents to a core agenda of national strategy. During the critical period of building a technological powerhouse, how can enterprises participate in talent cultivation? L’Oréal China’s answer is: start from the most fundamental link. At the moment girls become curious about science, provide them with authentic research experiences and continuous companionship.
This shift from “seeing” to “doing” may be the most effective key to breaking gender stereotypes and repairing the “leaky pipeline,” as well as a form of long-termism that transcends short-term commercial returns.
“We have always been doing what is difficult but right,” Lan Zhenzhen said. “Enabling more tech girls to see role models with their own eyes and touch science with their own hands, letting them know ‘I can do it’—that is the original aspiration of ‘Generation to Generation.'”
(All images in the article are provided by L’Oréal China.)