The Royal Society of Tasmania

The advancement of knowledge

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Guide to nominations for the Annual Doctoral (PhD) Awards of the Royal Society of Tasmania 

The Royal Society of Tasmania instituted these awards to honour two doctoral (PhD) graduates who have made significant advances in the course of their doctoral research. The awards are made annually for excellence in research in any field within the purview of the Society. The awards may not be conferred if none of the candidates meets the conditions.

Beginning in 2021, and every second year thereafter, one award will be reserved for nominations in non-Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine (STEMM) disciplines. The other award will be open.

The value of each award is $1,000 (AUD). Each awardee will be invited to present a lecture to the Society.

Conditions of the Doctoral Awards

  • The awards shall be made to nominees who are no more than three years, or three years equivalent-full-time, after their PhD graduation.
  • The nominee’s research can be in any field (sciences, medicine, arts or humanities) and others within the purview of the Society.
  • The awards are intended to recognise significant advances based on the PhD research, as evidenced by published or in press peer-reviewed papers in national/international journals or equivalent outputs in fields where publications are not the norm.
  • The research should have been largely carried out in Tasmania or under the aegis of a Tasmanian-based organization.
  • Nominations may be made by anyone although no self-nominations will be accepted.
  • Nominations must be received before COB, 15 November annually.

Nomination guidelines

  • On the first page of the nomination, give (1) the name of the nominee, contact address and email, (2) the name of the nominator, contact address and email and (3) the name, contact address and email of the PhD supervisor, if different from the nominator. Also state whether the nomination falls into the STEMM or non-STEMM categories.
  • On the second page, provide the title and an abstract (not more than one A4 page) of the PhD research.
  • Include a statement (one A4 page) of the new and original contribution made by the PhD research to the field, using language suitable for non-specialists. If the nominator is not the PhD supervisor, this statement must be endorsed by the PhD supervisor.
  • Provide the nominee’s curriculum vitae including the date of birth, the date of receipt of degrees (including the date of PhD graduation) and a full list of publications or other outputs. The most significant outputs should be highlighted with an asterisk. For co-authored papers, including first-author papers, provide a percentage estimate of the nominee’s contribution.

Please send nominations as a single Word or PDF file by email to the Secretary admin@rst.org.au before COB, 15 November. Please enter “Honours Committee” in the subject line of the email message.

All matters pertaining to the Society awards and the Honours Committee deliberations are confidential. The Honours Committee recommendations must be ratified by Council and all nominators must be informed of the outcome before public announcement of award winners.