Annette Karmiloff-Smith and Michael Harpold Dissertation Award 2024-2025

Competition for outstanding PhD thesis. Application deadline: February 15th, 2026. Prizes will be awarded for up to 2 outstanding doctoral dissertations. Each recipient will receive an honorarium of Euro 1000. The topic of the dissertation must be in the field of Down syndrome research.

Eligibility
Participation in the 2024-2025 competition is limited to candidates who obtained the PhD during the period January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2025.

Applicants must be members of T21RS at least six months before the Thesis defense and when the prize is awarded (www.t21rs.org/register). Candidates should attend the award ceremony held at the biennial T21RS International Conference.

Required documentation
The required documentation must be submitted in PDF format exclusively by e-mail to education@T21RS.org and in cc to Marco Emili (marco.emili2@unibo.it) and Fiorenza Stagni (fiorenza.stagni2@unibo.it) and must be written in English.

The candidates must state their current position and provide full mailing address, e-mail and telephone number.

Candidates must also include in the application:

Dissertation Summary Page
A short description of the dissertation research and its conclusions, written by the nominee.
- Format requirements: up to 2 double-spaced pages with 12-point font, each page bearing the nominee’s name and page number. Minimal appendices containing non textual material, such as charts or tables, may be included in addition to the 2 pages.
Brief (3-page) curriculum vitae highlighting:
- education
- honors and publications
- PhD Certificate issued by the University
A reference letter from the dissertation advisor. The dissertation advisor must be member of T21RS at the time of submission. The letter should comment on:
- the originality and importance of the research
- the potential for significant contribution to the field of Down syndrome research.
A copy of the full dissertation (PDF format).

Evaluation committee
Members of the Evaluation Committee will be members of T21RS. In compliance with the Trisomy 21 Research Society’s conflict of interest policy, participation in the Evaluation Committee is forbidden for members whose collaborators will apply for this competition.

The decision of the Committee shall be final, with no possible appeal. The Evaluation Committee reserves the right to assign a number of prizes lower than the number foreseen, or no prizes if the applications received will not be considered worthy of this Award. Applicants will be notified by March 31, 2026. Registration will be waived for the 6th T21RS International Conference (Denver, CO, June 17-20 2026) following the award.

The winners will be asked to present their main findings at this meeting and write an article about the topic of their Thesis for the T21RS bulletin.

Evaluation criteria
The following aspects will be considered for the evaluation of PhD theses:

Originality and innovative character: the doctoral dissertation must present novel and original data in the field of Down syndrome and demonstrate the use of innovative approaches. The rationale and the aims of the dissertation must be clearly defined and conceptualized in relation to the state-of-the-art.
Research methodology: the methodology including experimental methods, techniques and statistical analyses must be rigorous, properly motivated and appropriate in relation to the objectives of the research work.
Presentation of the results: the results obtained must be clearly and logically presented and they must be impactful in the field of Down syndrome.
Presentation of the conclusions: the conclusions must be complete, clear, and consistent with the state-of-the-art and the results obtained.

The publication of the PhD thesis work in peer-reviewed scientific journals will be considered an additional value.