Information for Applicants
Judging
- A judging panel consisting of clinical and laboratory based scientists with no direct link to the applicant's research and who are either currently supervising PhD candidates or engaged in 'active' research will assess the applications.
- Eight applicants will be chosen by this panel to proceed to the second stage of judging. The eight semi-finalists will be notified during the week beginning 22 August 2011.
- Semi-finalists will be required to give an oral presentation of their research work to a general scientific audience, who are not necessarily specialists in the applicant's area of work.
- Presentations by the semi-finalists should be no longer than 12 minutes in length with an additional five minutes for questions from the judges.
- Presentations will be assessed both on the quality of the science and the presentation skills of the speaker. Please note that judging of the semi-final presentations will be weighted towards the quality of the science
Semi-finals judging will take place on Tuesday 20 September 2011 from 11 am – 3 pm at the Flinders University (Victoria Square campus).
Criteria for judging at Semi-finals event
The semi-finalists will be assessed on the following criteria:
- The quality of science based on scientific content, methodology and validity of conclusions.
- The presentation skills based on the use of appropriate audiovisual aids, clarity of presentation, engagement with audience, understandability and general professional appearance.
Note: It is important that the presentations are simplified sufficiently to be understandable to scientific and medical researchers from a broad range of fields, avoiding the use of jargon, acronyms and abbreviations.
Three finalists will be chosen to move forward to the final judging (Award Event).
They will be notified on the day of the semi-final judging.
- At the Award event on Thursday 27 October 2011, the three finalists will be required to give a 12 minute presentation in lay language to a general audience consisting of researchers, clinicians, other interested staff and invitees (e.g. donors, business representatives). There will be an additional five minutes for questions by the judges only.
- The judges will be members of the media and a scientific moderator. Presentations will be assessed on the ability of the finalists to communicate their research in an interesting and understandable way to non-scientists. Judges will assume that all presentations are of high scientific quality.
Finals judging will take place on Thursday 27 October 2011 from 5.30 pm at the Adelaide Zoo.
Criteria for judging at Final event
The finalists will be assessed on the following criteria:
- The ability to make their research understandable and relevant to the general public.
- The ability to generate enthusiasm and interest in their research by the judging panel, i.e. applicants should consider how to make their research attractive to the media.
- Presentation skills, including engagement with audience, clarity of presentation, and general professional appearance.
The winner will be announced on the night and prizes presented.
The winner will be required to submit a written report of the conference attended to the Award committee (via the Chair, YIA Committee).
Note that the Award committee members are happy to discuss the assessment criteria to ensure that all applicants clearly understand how the various stages will be assessed.