Rolex Announces Five New Laureates For 2026 – And They’re All Women
While celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, the Rolex Awards highlights outstanding women who are championing environmental protection and humanitarian causes.
Rolex needs no introduction, but there’s more to this luxury watch brand than shiny statement-making timepieces. Part of Rolex’s Perpetual Planet Initiative, the Rolex Awards, now an annual affair that’s marking its 50th anniversary, strongly advocates sustainability and humanitarian causes – all through the backing of outstanding individuals who not only bring forth game-changing ideas to better the world, but also have the grit to actually implement them.
2026’s Rolex Awards laureates happens to be an all-female line-up, hailing across Indonesia, Nigeria, Peru, China, and the United States. Read on to learn more about these five power women who are leading the charge in sustainability, STEM, health and more.
2026 ROLEX AWARDS LAUREATES – FIVE WOMEN TO KNOW
1. Binbin Li
Her profession: Environmental scientist
Her cause: Protecting pandas
Less than 2,000 giant pandas exist in the wild, and Binbin is dedicated to coming up with a sustainable approach for livestock grazing in the mountains of China, laden with bamboo forests which the pandas rely on for sustenance. Her solutions aim to benefit the locals economically, while also ensuring that the once-endangered species and its natural habitat remain protected.
2. Farwiza Farhan
Her profession: Forest conservationist
Her cause: Saving a Sumatran forest
There’s only one place in the world where elephants, tigers, orangutans, and rhinos still thrive together in the wild: The Leuser Ecosystem of Sumatra, Indonesia. Except, this biodiversity-rich forest is constantly under threat of deforestation. Farwiza works with Sumatran locals and empowers them with a voice to push for the protection of this sacred tropical woodland, allowing them to have a stake in its future.
3. Pardis Sabeti
Her profession: Medical geneticist
Her cause: Preventing viral pandemics
Having spent decades in West Africa fighting on the frontlines during virus outbreaks, medical professional Pardis is currently developing a tool for remote communities in Sierra Leone to identify and address potential virus eruptions – before they become actual pandemics. Here’s to millions of lives saved.
4. Rachel Ikemeh
Her profession: Conservationist
Her cause: Community-led wildlife conservation
This is the lady who helped save the Niger Delta red colobus monkey from extinction – and she’s not about to rest on her laurels. Rachel champions community-led conservation in the Delta, the centre of Nigeria’s oil industry, and has successfully fought for protection of hectares and hectares of forest and at least 13 at-risk animal species, all while improving the standard of living of over 2,500 people. In conjunction with her award, Rolex will provide support for her new training hub which will help replicate her conservation efforts across other places in the region.
5. Rosa Vasquez Espinoza
Her profession: Chemical biologist
Her cause: Saving the bees
There’s legal protection of stingless bees in Peru – and Rosa is to thank for that. She’s the first person to link the decline of bees with the deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. Her push for the protection of stingless bee habitats has led to the conservation of native plant species, which in turn helps upkeep livelihoods of the community and, by extension, food security.
Find out more about the Rolex Awards Laureates for 2026 here, and the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative here.