Research Excellence Awards

Recognises and celebrates excellence in the translation of research, outstanding early career researchers and research supervisors, and the important role they play in our research achievements.

The Research Excellence Awards are awarded under three categories:

Research Impact Award

This award recognises an individual or team who have demonstrated excellence in the translation of research in any and all forms, which may include products, services, policy reform, new companies including social enterprise that are demonstrably delivering significant impact and benefits for industry and/or broader society and community. This may include social, economic, cultural and/or environmental impact.

Research Impact Award - Criteria

The principal criteria for assessing entries in this category are:

Translation pathway - How was the translation opportunity identified and how were external end user partners engaged? What was the underlying research and how has it been translated? What challenges were encountered during the translation process and how were they overcome?
Demonstrated impact - What has been the impact to date, describing and quantifying impact and broader benefits with evidence? To what extent has the translation of this research successfully addressed or solved a problem or challenge in society/business?
Scalability: What is the expected potential for future growth and impact? What is the strategy in place to achieve that growth including with end user partners?

Research Supervision Excellence Award

Awarded to individuals or teams who have provided outstanding supervision to Higher Degree by Research candidates.

Research Supervision Excellence - Criteria

Nominee/s must demonstrate supervision excellence under one of the following criteria (up to 500 words):

Supervisor as a teacher. This could be demonstrated by:
- Structures for ongoing interaction with students, in a positive and inclusive environment
- Critical analysis of work and timely feedback
- The balance between guidance and encouraging independence and innovation
- Fostering and facilitating the development of academic skills and self-direction
- Assistance with accessing specialist expertise (e.g. statistics, computing, language)
Supervisor as a mentor. This could be demonstrated by:
- Assisting with networking skills, identifying opportunities for collaboration and promotion of students’ research
- Conference and publication support for the candidate
- Knowledge of processes relating to supervision (e.g. codes of practice, progress review, submission and examination, scholarships)
- Advice on job contacts and career paths
Supervisor as model. This could be demonstrated by:
- Supervisor’s personal record of scholarship and research
- Supervisor’s ability to communicate knowledge and expertise
- Publications record, especially jointly with research students
- Peer acknowledgement as indicated by journal editing, speaking invitations, invited chapters or articles
- Evidence of collegiality leadership and/or industry engagement
- Evidence of open-mindedness on the knowledge interpretations of others

Nominations must clearly identify which of the above criteria the nomination pertains to. Nominations should define the performance of the nominated supervisor and demonstrate how the supervisor’s activities demonstrate excellence in relation to the chosen criteria.

Early Career Researcher Award

Awarded to an outstanding individual academic or professional staff member actively engaged in research, who is within 5 years of PhD completion. Conjoints may also be considered, providing their research is primarily based at the University.

Early Career Researcher - Criteria

The awards will be based on the excellence of the nominee’s cumulative research activity, subsequent to the awarding of their PhD.

The purpose of basing the selection criteria on the cumulative research activity is to reward early career researchers who are on a rising trajectory and making an impact within their research field.

Research activities include (but are not limited to):

Publications
Grants/significant funding
Collaboration
Industry engagement
Commercial activities
Creative arts exhibitions/performances
Mentorship/supervision/leadership
Community engagement and input
Policy input
Teaching load (if applicable)

Nominations should define the nature and significance of the research achievements and describe the importance of the research outputs in terms of originality and impact with the field (up to 500 words). Research activity since PhD can be listed if necessary. The selection panel will look at the nominee’s University research profile.

Excellence Awards

Research Excellence Awards

Nominate Now!

Eligibility and How to Nominate

Eligibility

All University employees are eligible to be nominated for an Excellence Award, including professional staff (casual, fixed-term and ongoing) and academic staff (continuing, fixed-term, conjoint and sessional). Staff employed by an agency do not fall within the eligibility requirements.

All staff members are eligible to submit an award nomination for another member or staff, or a group of staff, but as of 2023, self-nomination is no longer permitted.

Depending on the quality of the nominations, one award winner may be selected for each award sub-category. Subject to the quality of the nominations for a category, an award may not be made. Depending on the award category, you may choose to nominate an individual, or a team.

Individual nominations (where applicable)
You are encouraged to tell the individual that you are nominating them before submitting your nomination. However, all nominees will be advised of their nomination via email once the submission is received.

Team nominations (where applicable)
Team nominations must not exceed 10 members unless exceptional circumstances apply. You must advise team leaders of the nomination before you submit it to ensure that team composition and contributions are accurately reflected. In the nomination form you will be required to identify seminal contributors (up to a maximum of 4 members) and supporting contributors (up to a maximum of 6 members) within the team composition. Prize money for team awards will be distributed equally amongst all team members.

Re-nominations
A nominee or recipient of an Excellence Award cannot be the recipient of an award in two consecutive years for the same or substantially similar achievement.

Awards ceremony and prizes
All finalists are invited to attend the annual awards ceremony, where the award winners are announced. Award winners receive a certificate of recognition, a trophy and monetary award prize.

Monetary award prizes are $1,000 for individuals and $2,000 for teams (shared equally amongst all team members) which must be collected through salary payment. The exception is the Values Award, which is a $2,500 award prize awarded to an individual or team (shared equally) and must be used for professional development within 12 months of receipt of the award, unless otherwise approved. Relevant taxation and superannuation arrangements apply to one-off salary payments.

Any award recipient who is no longer employed by the University at the time of the announcement of the awards will not be entitled to an award prize.

How to Nominate

After clicking on the ‘nominate now’ link, you will be taken to an online form, where you will be asked to input:

Your full name and email
The nominee/s name, email, College/Division. For team nominations, details will need to be provided for all team members.
A 75 word succinct overview of the nomination, including

a description of the contribution, initiative, program, project or activity and how this outstanding and exceptional achievement or success exceeds normal expectations of performance.

Your responses to the award selection criteria

In 2023, the University is utilising awards software Award Force to capture our award nominations. This will enable staff to use their single sign on credentials to access the nomination form and provide enhanced functionality, including the ability to save partially completed nominations.

Excellence Awards FAQs

The University of Newcastle acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands within our footprint areas: Awabakal, Darkinjung, Biripai, Worimi, Wonnarua, and Eora Nations. We also pay respect to the wisdom of our Elders past and present.