Postgraduate Research Excellence Awards
The PGR Excellence Awards celebrate the contributions and successes of all colleagues in our Postgraduate Research community.
Shortlisted candidates will be considered for the annual MDC Excellence Awards (a University-wide opportunity). All nominations should be submitted by email to the Doctoral Academy team using the relevant application form.
Award categories
Below are the categories available for award nominations, as well as information about who can nominate and the nomination deadline:
PGR of the Year
The PGR of the Year nominee should be an outstanding Doctoral researcher who has excelled in some significant manner, for example, after the presentation of a thesis, based on the recommendation and judgment of the external examiner.
They may have had a major research achievement during their PGR programme – for example, high-quality journal publications or a research spin-off.
The shortlisted nominations for this category will also be considered for the President's Distinguished Achievements Award (University-wide).
Nomination information
- Deadline for nominations: Currently closed for nominations
- Who can nominate: Current University staff members
Best Outstanding Output
The Best Outstanding Output award recognises research outputs of the highest quality and acknowledges the continuing importance of high-quality research to the University.
Nomination information
- Deadline for nominations: Check with your Department Head of PGR
- Who can nominate: Current University staff members.
Best Contribution to PGR Environment
The Best Contribution to PGR Environment award recognises outstanding achievement / contribution of an individual towards the enhancement of the postgraduate environment.
An award will be made to a PGR who has made a positive impact, demonstrated innovation and creativity in their actions, and been an inspirational role model to other students. Examples of this include organising events which bring together the postgraduate community; identifying an area of development within the postgraduate community and providing a solution to this.
Nomination information
- Deadline for nominations: Check with your Department Head of PGR
- Who can nominate: Current University staff members.
Best Contribution to Internationalisation
The Best Contribution to Internationalisation award will be made to a student who, in the opinion of the Panel, encapsulates the spirit of internationalisation at Manchester.
Examples of this include a PGR that has demonstrated their ability to work internationally and be an exemplar global citizen; a student that had driven forward an initiative to enhance the international student experience at Manchester.
Nomination information
- Deadline for nominations: Check with your Department Head of PGR
- Who can nominate: Current University staff members.
Best Contribution to Society - Local Community and Research Impact
Local Community: The Best Contribution to Society (Local Community) award recognises outstanding the achievement or contribution of an individual that has offered their time and energy to make a difference to the social and economic well-being of our local communities.
Research impact: The Best Contribution to Society (Research Impact) award recognises outstanding the achievement or contribution of an individual whose research has had a positive impact in terms of improvements to the economy, society, culture, public policy or services, health, the environment, or quality of life.
Nomination information
- Deadline for nominations: Check with your Department Head of PGR
- Who can nominate: Current University staff members.
Outstanding Supervisor
The nominee should be an individual who has created the most supportive, stimulating and inspirational research environment for doctoral students and trainees.
The qualities the panel will look for in candidates include the following.
- A pioneering approach to supervision: what has the individual done above and beyond that which is expected of any good supervision?
- A demonstrable commitment to supporting the personal, professional and career development of PGRs supervised.
- Demonstrable enthusiasm for the role and going the extra mile to help students navigate through difficulties, academic or otherwise.
- Challenging students intellectually and helping them to make substantial contributions to their academic or clinical field or professional area.
- Providing additional support and facilities to give greater scope to their research or professional training.
- Evidence of outstanding results of their supervision over a number of years: have students from a range of backgrounds been encouraged to pursue a doctorate? What have they gone on to achieve?
- Providing supervision to an exceptional number of candidates over time.
Nomination information
- Deadline for nominations: Check with your Department Head of PGR
- Who can nominate: Current University staff members and current PGRs.
Criteria for nominations
At the time of being nominated for an award, postgraduate researchers must be registered for a postgraduate research degree at The University of Manchester, be under examination for a postgraduate research degree at Manchester or have completed their doctoral degree within the past six months.
Nomination process
Please see the relevant category above for information on who can make nominations.
All nominations to go through the general PGR Excellence Award route and should be submitted by email to the Doctoral Academy team.
All nominations MUST be sent with the following:
- a summary of the nominee's achievements for the prize-giving ceremony (max 120 words).
- two supporting statements from either the nominee’s peers or relevant members of academic or PSS / Library / CIs’ staff (max four statements).
If you are a postgraduate researcher who would like to be put forward for a category where only staff members can nominate, please ask your supervisory team to submit a nomination for you.
Shortlisting
All nominations will be considered for the MDC PGR Excellence Awards (university-wide) by an FSE panel.
Previous winners
- Distinguished Achievement Award
- Postgraduate Research Student of the Year
Jack Holguin, Faculty of Science and Engineering
Jack Holguin has been described as one of the very top PhD students in theoretical physics to come out of the UK this year. He was nominated for the Distinguished Achievement Award for his ground-breaking work in perturbative quantum chromodynamics; to develop new ways to account for the emission of quarks and gluons in high-energy particle collisions in such a way as to significantly improve accuracy and to include quantum mechanical interference effects. Previous algorithms are among the most cited works in particle physics because they are used in almost every collider physics analysis. Jack’s papers pave the way for a next generation of high-precision simulation codes in particle physics. Jack has secured a postdoc position at the Institute for Theoretical Physics at Saclay in Paris.