Awards

Riding the Stem Cell Wave from Innovation to Translation

ASSCR Travel and Prize Award Guidelines

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 2025 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 1st August 2025, 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 1st August 2019 and will take into consideration career disruption as defined by ARC guidelines).

Application process

Applicants can apply for ASSCR membership now or during the abstract submission process.

All applicants must complete the applicable questions with their abstract submission and seek approval from your Supervisor by Midnight EST 1st August 2025. Abstracts will be peer reviewed and ranked to select the travel award recipients.

Please complete all sections in the online form with your abstract submission and seek approval from your 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.

ASSCR Rising Star Award

Guidelines for ASSCR Rising Star Award

The Rising Star Award aims to recognise outstanding contributions of ASSCR members who have demonstrated excellence in research, leadership and advocacy in the early stages of their careers. 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.

Awards

  • Up to 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 an international conference, scientific course or workshop and/or laboratory visit and a report submitted to ASSCR/NSCF within 6 months of attendance.

  • Applications from past Rising Star Award winners may be provided as a guide to support high-quality submissions from future applicants.

Application Process

  • Applicants are required to submit an application form of no more than 3 pages (Times, 12 point font) that addresses the selection criteria and includes:

    o   Research impact in any area of stem cell research

    o   Top 5 publications and a description of the key importance

    o   Scientific contributions to the field that demonstrate leadership

    o   Communication, outreach and advocacy activities

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

  • Submit application to the Chair of Conference and Awards (ASSCRsubmissions@gmail.com) by 1st August 2025.

Announcement of awards

The Rising Star Award recipients will be announced at the annual ASSCR meeting and/or the ASSCR AGM.

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.

  • Career disruption will be defined according to ARC guidelines. 

  • 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