Award for Outstanding Doctoral Research Contributions to Psychology
Nominations are invited for this annual award to recognise outstanding contributions to psychological knowledge by postgraduate research students whilst carrying out research for their doctoral degrees in psychology.
Nominations are invited for this annual award to recognise outstanding contributions to psychological knowledge by postgraduate research students whilst carrying out research for their doctoral degrees in psychology.
Award
The award consists of a £500 prize and a commemorative certificate.
Deadline
- Nominations open on 18 August 2025 at 9:00am
- Nominations close on 2 November 2025 at 11:59pm
This is an annual award.
Please note: you can only submit one nomination per round.
Criteria
- Any changes will be applied when the award is open to nomination.
- The awarding panel may decide not to make an award in any given year.
Please note: eligibility and assessment criteria are subject to change.
Eligibility
The articles must meet the following requirements:
- The articles must have been published in refereed journals (normally those covered by Psychological Abstracts), or be in press.
- The nominee must be either the sole or senior (first) author of the articles concerned.
- The nominator must confirm that the research reported in the articles was carried out by the nominee as research for a Doctoral degree in psychology which was passed by a university in the UK normally not more than two years before the date when the articles were accepted for publication.
- A candidate may only be nominated for the award if the doctoral degree was awarded no earlier than three years ago.
Conflicts of interest
- Nominators must declare all personal and professional conflicts of interest e.g., if nominating a spouse/partner or other relation.
- A conflict of interest will not prevent acceptance of the nomination but will be borne in mind by the awarding panel when considering the nomination.
- If we become aware of an undeclared conflict of interest, the nomination will be withdrawn.
Assessment criteria
The awarding panel will base its judgement on published psychology articles.
Nominators must send copies of what they judge to be the nominee's two most outstanding and significant publications reporting the research carried out for the candidate's doctoral degree.
Applications will be assessed according to:
- Rigour, originality and significance of the submitted research
- Originality
- Significance
- The extent to which achievements are realistic within the constraints of doctoral training
Nomination forms must be completed and submitted online.
The deadline for submissions is 2 November 2025 at 11:59pm
Nominators should include:
- A 1,500-word nomination statement outlining why the nominee's work is outstanding and why they should be considered for the award
- Copies of what they judge to be the candidate's two most outstanding and significant publications reporting the research carried out for the candidate's doctoral degree
- A copy of the nominee's summary CV
- Details of three potential assessors (the nominator should not be an assessor)
If you have any questions, please email [email protected].
Please note: we cannot accept late nominations.
Previous recipients
- 2022: Dr Kate Cooper
- 2021: Dr Pete Lawrence
- 2020: Dr Jennifer Murphy
- 2019: Amy Orben
- 2018: Dr Nadine Lavan
- 2017: Dr Neil Bramley
- 2016: Dr Anne-Lise Goddings
- 2015: Dr Praveetha Patalay
- 2014: Dr Rachel Arnold and Dr Lauren Marsh
- 2013: Andreas Jarvstad
- 2012: Stephanie Rossit
- 2011: Helen Fisher
- 2010: Thom Scott Phillips/Catherine Sebastian
- 2009: Nicole Tausch
- 2008: Julia Kovas/Merim Bilalic
- 2007: Rhiannon Turner
- 2006: Katie Slocombe
- 2005: Danielle Turner
- 2004: Elizabeth Jefferies
- 2003: Chris Olivers
- 2002: Pam Heaton/Rudolf Cardinal
- 2001: Sarah-Jayne Blakemore
- 2000: Richard J. Crisp
- 1999: Jon Sutton
- 1998: Richard (Rik) Henson
- 1997: Roz Shafran