T21RS PhD Thesis Award

Participation in the 2021 competition is limited to candidates who obtained the PhD during the period January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2021. 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, and should write an article about their Thesis for the T21RS bulletin.

• Documentation accompanying the application must be submitted exclusively in an email to education@T21RS.org and in Cc to sandra.guidi3@unibo.it in PDF format and must be written in English.

The candidates must state their current title and provide full mailing address, email and telephone numbers.

Candidates must also include:

1. Dissertation Summary Page
2. 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 nontextual material, such as charts or tables, may be included in addition to the 2 pages.
3. Brief (3-page) curriculum vitae highlighting
   1. education
   2. honors and publications
4. Documentation from the University attesting completion of all requirements for a PhD.
5. A reference letter from the dissertation advisor. The dissertation advisor must be member of T21RS at the time of submission (https://www.t21rs.org/login/).  The letter should comment on:
   1. the originality and importance of the research
   2. the potential for significant contribution to the field of Down syndrome research
6. A copy of the full dissertation (PDF format).

Members of the evaluation committee will be the members of the Awards Committee of T21RS. In compliance with the Trisomy 21 Research Society’s conflict of interest policy, participation on the evaluation committee is forbidden for members whose laboratory colleagues will apply in the PhD thesis award. The decision of the Committee shall be final, with no possible appeal. If the Committee will assign a number of prizes lower than the number foreseen, or none if the theses will be considered not particularly outstanding, the prize may be vacant. Authors of awarded dissertations will be notified by May 1, 2022. Registration will be waived for the next T21RS meeting following the award and the winners will be asked to present their main findings at that meeting.

The main criteria for evaluation of doctoral theses are:

Choice of subject and research problem: the doctoral dissertation must present well-founded, new knowledge, demonstrate innovative approaches and can also open up an entirely new branch of research. The doctoral dissertation must be appropriately defined. Aims, problem-setting, and research questions must be formulated so that they can be answered in a meaningful way.

Conceptual clarity and theoretical mastery of the subject: the work must be conceptually clear and the author must master the underlying theories and be able to conceptualize the research problem. Definitions and conceptualizations must be clearly expressed.

Research methods: the methods must be properly motivated and appropriate, with respect to the research problem. A consistent application of the research methods is considered a merit. A thorough mastery and insightful use of the research methods are considered the rewards of the work.

Material and source criticism: the material must be of a qualitatively high standard and quantitatively adequate with regard to the research problem and the research method. The source material is critically analyzed and reliably accounted for by means of correct citations and references.

Presentation of the results: the research results must be presented clearly and logically. The analysis must be consistent and well-founded. The presentation of the results must correspond with the aim and problem-setting.

Conclusions: the conclusions must be systematic, well-founded and drawn from the aim, research problem, material and method.

The work as a whole and linguistic form: the doctoral dissertation must be logically organized, the language must be clearly articulated and the graphic layout must be clean and easy to follow. The text must be consistent and logical, focusing on the essential. The argument must be made logically. The author must show proof of critical thinking, originality and independence.

The publication (as a scientific original paper) of the results shown in Thesis will be considered an added value.