Postgraduate Research Education Awards

We will not share your name with your nominee without your prior consent. Within the nomination form you are given the option to opt out of your name being shared and used (alongside your nomination) in any celebration events and university marketing materials and promotional channels. Please be mindful of this when completing the nomination form.

Current PGR students or recent PGR graduates (who have completed their degree within the past year, at the time of nomination) are eligible to nominate a member of staff for these awards. If you would like to make a nomination and you are a recent graduate who no longer has access to your Essex email, please get in touch: soty@essex.ac.uk.

You can nominate maximum one member of staff (or a team if co-supervised) who supervises you and maximum one professional services member of staff (or team) for the two separate awards.

In the case in which you are co-supervised (by more than 1 supervisor), you are welcome to nominate the supervisory team (max 3 members of staff) as a collective. Equally, you may wish to nominate only one of your supervisors within a co-supervision.

If another student is supervised by the same supervisor as you, we would recommend completing the form separately. However, if you feel you and your colleague have had a very similar experience, you may work together to complete the form. Please make this clear in your nomination.

You do not need to tell a member of staff that you are nominating them. However, your name may be shared unless you express your objection on the nomination form. Please be mindful of this when completing the form.

In principle, you can nominate again. However, the claim should be based on different grounds of the previous nomination. The final decision on eligibility to win the award will rest with the panel. 

In principle, you can nominate again. However, the claim should be based on different grounds of the previous winning nomination. The final decision on eligibility to win the award will rest with the panel. 

Students will nominate using an online survey, where you can enter up to a 500-word statement to support the nomination. This statement might address all or some of the below criteria (A-D). There is no expectation to write a statement for each criterion individually. The most effective nominations are those that are specific and provide detail. Your nomination should provide examples of the good practice and how it has impacted your experience.

Professional Services Award for PGR Support

• Provide examples of how the nominee gone the extra mile to help you to navigate through difficulties, academic or otherwise?
• Provide examples of how the nominee supported you to understand/adhere to research policies/governance? (This could relate to aspects such as extensions, ethics, finances, health and safety, research management).
• Provide examples of the positive impact the nominee’s actions have had on your student experience? (E.g., supporting you to enhance your experience as a student).
• Provide examples of how the nominee has supported you with your professional development? E.g., your self-confidence, motivation, self-management/time management, or career?)

Supervisor of the Year

• Provide an example(s) of how your supervisor has met or exceeded your expectation of what good supervision is. (An example may include going the extra mile to help you to navigate through difficulties, academic or otherwise).
• Thinking of your PGR journey so far, provide examples of how your supervisor supported you in a timely manner with academic guidance. (An example may include: inclusive and accessible effective feedback and critical advice or constructive employment and career advice post-graduation).
• Provide example(s) of how your supervisor has challenged you intellectually, helping you to make meaningful contributions to and integration with the academic research community.
• Give example(s) of how your supervisor has encouraged you to give greater scope and support to your research. Perhaps by supporting your training (e.g., research skills training, conference presentations, teaching experience, other professional experience), providing information about dissemination, access to additional facilities, resources or networks

Unfortunately, you cannot go back and edit what you have written. If you would like anything changed, please contact our team by emailing soty@essex.ac.uk

These awards are for postgraduate research students only. This includes Masters by Dissertation students and doctoral students.

All students who complete a nomination form will be invited to the PGR celebration event in May 2024. Please look out for the invitation email. We will announce the winners at this event.

Nominations are collated, organised and then sent to the panel members to be reviewed independently. Following this, the panel members meet to discuss and decide on overall winners. You may be interested to know that students are represented on the panel. If you would like to know more about this process and panel membership, please email soty@essex.ac.uk and we can share more information,