Conference Travel Awards and Prizes Available for Postgraduate Students and ECRs

The National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia (NSCFA) together with the ASSCR is generously sponsoring a large number of Postgraduate students and early career researcher (ECRs) to attend and present their research at the 2023 annual meeting. ASSCR will also provide two conference travel awards for Postgraduate students and ECRs from New Zealand institutions. These Awards will contribute to the cost of attending the meeting (full registration fee and an average airfare cost based on the geographical location of awardees).

Eligibility

To be eligible, Postgraduate students and ECRs from Australia and New Zealand must be current members of ASSCR and submit an abstract by midnight Friday, 4 August 2023, regardless of requests for oral or poster presentations as all abstracts will be peer reviewed.

NOTE: Prior recipients of ASSCR conference travel award are eligible to apply, but priority will be given to those not awarded last year.

NOTE: ECR is defined as someone who is within 6 years of the award of the PhD (PhD awarded on or after 4^th August 2017 and will take into consideration career disruption as defined by NHMRC guidelines).

Application Process

Applicants can apply for ASSCR membership now or during the abstract submission process. All applicants must complete the application form for travel awards and prizes and email to maxlim@unimelb.edu.au by 5.00pm Friday, 4 August 2023. Abstracts will be peer reviewed and ranked to select the travel award recipients.

Please complete all sections of the form and provide signatures from both the applicant and supervisor.

Notification and Award Conditions

Applicants will be notified of the outcome of travel award applications at the time of abstract acceptance. Awardees must acknowledge the support of the NSCFA and ASSCR on their oral and poster presentations. A logo and acknowledgement slide will be emailed to all awardees. Successful applicants may also be contacted to provide photographs and/or testimonials. All awardees are expected to attend for the duration of the conference including the closing ceremony.

Best Oral and Poster Presentation Prizes

There will also be Prizes for the best oral and poster presentations by Postgraduate students and ECRs. These will be determined by a team of oral and poster presentation judges and will be announced in the final session of the conference. If you wish to be considered for these Prizes, please tick the appropriate box in the application form.

Submit an abstract here, and download the application form and guidelines.

Guidelines for ASSCR Rising Star Award

The Rising Star Award aims to recognize distinguished contributions of ASSCR members who have demonstrated excellence in research and leadership in the early stages of their careers. The award will be instigated in 2023 and two awards will be given each year.

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible for a Rising Star Award the applicant must be:

0-5 years post-PhD or equivalent of full-time in the case of significant career interruption on the closing date of the year of application.
a current member of ASSCR and held membership for at least 1 year.
Applicants can either self-nominate or be nominated by a current ASSCR member.

Ineligible Applicants:

Previous ASSCR Rising Star Award winners are not eligible to apply.
Applications that do not provide all the required information will be ineligible.

Application Process

Applicants are required to supply a Curriculum Vitae of no more than 3 pages (12 point font) that addresses the selection criteria and includes:

top five publications or presentations and a description of the key importance
impact of research in any area of stem cell research
communication, engagement and outreach activities
contributions to the field that demonstrate leadership

Supply evidence of PhD completion date (e.g. letter of degree completion from University)

Download your application form here and submit your completed application to the Chair of Conference and Award subcommittee (mlim@svi.edu.au) by 4th August 2023.

Awards

Two awards will be presented each year.
Each award winner will receive $5,500 in prize money (inclusive of $5,000 international travel grant provided by National Stem Cell Foundation), a certificate and free registration to the ASSCR Annual Meeting the following year.
The international travel grant should be spent within a year of receiving to attend international conference and/or laboratory visit and a report submitted to ASSCR/NSCF

Assessment Information

Applications will be assessed by a selection committee comprised of ASSCR President, Vice President, Past President, Chair of Conference and Awards and other executive members of ASSCR.
Selection panel members will be required to declare any conflict of interest with individuals or institutions and if conflicts are high, will be removed from assessment of the application.
Applications will be assessed against selection criteria, relative to opportunity.
It is a policy of ASSCR that the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion are observed in both the composition of the selection committee and awardees.

Selection Criteria	Percentage
Quality and significance of research	50
Evidence of leadership	25
Communication, outreach and advocacy	25