Nomination Process

Each year, the RMIT Research Awards and Prizes recognise and celebrate the research achievements of staff, including Early Career Researchers (ECR), and Higher Degree by Research (HDR) candidates who have made significant contributions to research excellence and impact and research training.

Nomination submission details

Timeline

Nominations for the 2022 Research Awards and Prizes are now closed.

Nomination

All Research Awards and Prizes are by nomination only (with the nominee’s consent). Nominations from Schools, Colleges and RMIT Vietnam must receive endorsement from the respective Dean/Head of School or equivalent, noting that the Dean/Head of School or equivalent can also be the nominator. Multiple nominations from Schools are encouraged. In cases of multiple nominations for the same category from within the same School, the Dean/Head of School or equivalent may be asked to rank those nominations.

Please note that self-nomination is not available for this round of Research Awards and Prizes.

Nominees are not eligible for the same award or prize within a 5 year period.

All nominations must be submitted via the on-line form.

Nomination categories

There are two categories of Research Awards and Prizes; Vice Chancellor’s Research Awards and Prizes, and RMIT Research Excellence and Impact Awards and Prizes, each of which have sub-categories.

Nominators must select one category and one sub-category which most closely align to the nominees achievements.

For more details and guidance about categories, please visit research awards categories.

Nominations are restricted to one category and sub-category per nominee; however, the Research Awards Panel has the discretion to consider any eligible nominations for more than one category of award.

Nomination submission

Nominations for the 2022 Research Awards and Prizes are now closed.

All nominations must be submitted via the on-line SmartyGrants system.

If you have any questions, please e-mail the Research Awards team at: reward.recognition.research@rmit.edu.au, quoting the nominee name and/or nomination ID number.

Eligibility

Each Research award and Prize has eligibility criteria attached. Eligibility criteria vary according to the prize or award being nominated. Please refer to the Research Awards Categories page to determine eligibility before submitting your nomination.

Selection Criteria

As with eligibility criteria, each award/prize has specific selection criteria that must be addressed. Selection Criteria information can be found under each of the prizes and awards.

Supporting documentation

Each nomination requires a range of supporting documentation. The information/documents that will need to be included with your nomination are detailed below.

Citation/Research Statement - Nominees are required to provide a citation of 150 words or less, summarising their research contribution, and providing an overview of the contribution, written in the third person. This should be written directly into the nomination form.
Nominee Statement addressing Selection Criteria (word limit is 200 words per selection criteria response) - Nominees must provide a statement in response to each of the selection criteria. Selection criteria vary according to the award or prize being applied for. Please refer to the Research Awards and Prizes Categories page for details. This can be written directly into the nomination form.
Statements of Support (max 0.5 x A4 page for each statement, single-sided). A support statement coversheet is available for download (DOCX, 132KB) and is also available in the on-line nomination form. Once completed and signed, the coversheet then needs to be uploaded into the nomination form.
Abbreviated curriculum vitae (1.5 x A4 pages maximum). Each nominee must submit an abbreviated CV. Team awards require at least the team leader’s CV but you may include all team members if you wish. If submitting multiple CVs, they must be compiled into a single document (Adobe Acrobat preferred) and uploaded into the nomination form
Additional documentation (only relevant for the RMIT Award for Excellence – Graduate Research Leadership and the RMIT Award for Excellence – Industry Engagement in Graduate Research). Details of any additional requirements are available in the documentation section under each award.

Statements of support

As noted above, each nomination requires 2 statements of support that address the selection criteria for the award or prize. Statements of support are written by specific parties who are actively supporting the nominee for the award or prize.

Please see the 2022 Support statement document (DOCX, 132KB) for information about who is required to provide a supporting statement for each award.

Assessment process

The Research Awards and Prizes Assessment Process

The Vice-Chancellor's and RMIT Research Awards and Prizes are highly competitive and as such, in assessing the applications we take steps to ensure transparency, fairness and confidentiality.

Assessment panels

The Research Awards Panel is a subcommittee of the DVC R&I Executive group and is responsible for providing advice and recommendations in relation to the annual Research Awards process.

The assessment panel for each award and prize is led by a panel of academic peers, senior leaders and subject matter experts who then make recommendations to the DVC R&I for approval of recipients of the awards/prizes. To ensure procedural fairness, each panel consists of 3 to 4 assessors. If any panel member has a conflict of interest in relation to a specific nominee/s, they are required to remove themselves from the discussions and voting for that nominee as per the RMIT Conflict of Interest Policy.

Each nomination is assessed against the following:

Eligibility
Selection criteria responses
Research outputs
Statements of support

Also taken into consideration is each nominees Full Time Equivalent (FTE) research load and Achievement Relative to Opportunity (ARtO).

Where appropriate, the panel may propose moving a nominee to an alternative award or prize category and/or sub-category, if there is consensus among members that the nomination would fit better in the alternative category. The category change must be agreed to by the nominee before any action is taken.

The panel may also call for additional information from an award nominee to supplement information already provided.

Following the initial panel discussions and ranking, recommendations will be made to the DVC R&I for approval of recipients of the awards/prizes.

Once approved, nominees will then be notified of the outcomes.

Nomination Process

Research Awards Categories

Each year the RMIT Research Awards and Prizes recognise and celebrate the research achievements of staff including Early Career Researchers and Higher Degree by Research candidates who have made significant contributions to research excellence and impact, and research training.

Past recipients

The research excellence of RMIT academics and candidates (Researchers) is celebrated at the Annual Teaching and Research Awards hosted by Vice-Chancellor Professor Margaret Gardner (2009-2014) and Vice-Chancellor and President Martin Bean CBE (from 2015).

Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Luwaytini' by Mark Cleaver, Palawa.

More information

Acknowledgement of Country

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