University Research Prizes: Call for Nominations

Prof Philippe De Wilde, the DVC Research & Innovation, has today issued the call for nominations for the 2017 University Research Prizes.

The Research Prizes were launched in Kent’s fiftieth anniversary year (2015), and have already recognised a wide range of outstanding research across the University. Details of the winners from 2015 and 2016  are available via the links. 

This year we are aligning the categories more closely to those offered by the touchstone of excellent research in Europe, the EuropeanResearch Council (ERC).

The Second Annual University Research Prize Competition: Open for Nominations

The University’s second annual Research Prize competition is open for nominations. The Prizes recognise exceptional achievements in research and are open to all research active staff and doctoral students at Kent.  

 

Prof Jon Williamson (SECL), winner of the 2015 University Research Prize. 

University of Kent Research Prizes

I wrote last year about the development of a research prize competition here at Kent. If you read the post you'll know that it wasn't a straightforward gestation; however, when we launched it there was a good deal of interest, and we received 40 applications by the deadline in January.

After the hours of fretting, worrying, and of explaining the potential benefit to a sceptical audience, I was really pleased to see this interest. Moreover, I was pleased to see the quality and diversity of the research that had been put forward. It demonstrated a vibrant research culture, and I felt humbled to be a part of this world, both at the University, and as part of a national and global endeavour.

There were 12 winners in total: three faculty winners in each of the three categories, and three overall winners. They were:

Eyes on the Prize

Prizes are, by their nature, divisive. For every fan of 12 Years a Slave, there’ll be someone who swears that The Wolf of Wall Street was a better film and should have won the Oscar. Or Dallas Buyers Club, or Gravity. There might even be people who hold a candle for Philomena. Possibly. So I knew that introducing a research prize at the university would be controversial.

The idea had originally come from an academic. The university had a suite of prizes already, from teaching to green impact and from enterprise to student participation, but there had never been any for research. This, the academic said, was perverse. If we were serious about research, we should have been highlighting and rewarding excellent work.

I felt he had a point, so together we set about drafting a prize scheme.

Kent Research Prizes Scheme Launched

To recognise exceptional achievements in research, and to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary, the University is this year launching a new Research Prizes scheme. As well as recognising the most outstanding work in each Faculty, there will be specific prizes for excellent work undertaken by early career researchers and by doctoral students.

All the details are available on the Kent Research Services website here. Do give some consideration to your own work, or that of colleagues who you feel have produced exceptional work recently, and whose outstanding achievements deserve to be recognised by the University and the wider community.

If you have any questions about the scheme don't hesitate to get in touch with me.