Doctoral College Thesis Prize
Recognition of outstanding academic research achievement and excellence
This new award recognises the outstanding contributions that our research students make to our global research presence and profile.
The Doctoral College Thesis Prize will recognise outstanding academic research achievement and excellence, as well as outstanding contribution to a research area/discipline.
The prize (in the form of an engraved medal) can be awarded for a doctoral degree by thesis or a doctoral submission by published work.
Nomination Process
Examiners will be responsible for nominating a student for a prize following their examination of a thesis/by published work submission. Doctoral students from all three Faculties can be nominated.
Information on the Doctoral Thesis Prize is provided to appointed Doctoral Examiners when they are sent the thesis for examination. The Doctoral College will provide the relevant Graduate School with an information sheet which will be sent out to Examiners along with the nomination form. The Joint Report form also contains a reference to the Doctoral Thesis Prize and a link to the guidance and nomination form.
If Examiners wish to nominate a student for a Doctoral Thesis Prize, they must provide a completed nomination form outlining the justification for their nomination based on the Doctoral Thesis Prize criteria to the relevant Graduate School.
Nominations should be submitted for consideration in May and October each year.
Selection Criteria
The Examiners would nominate a student for a Doctoral Thesis Prize where they agree that the student meets the following criteria:
- Evidence of outstanding quality of the student’s academic achievement as demonstrated in the content and presentation of the thesis.
- Evidence of a significant level of originality shown in the thesis and the thesis makes a significant contribution to the research area or discipline/s.
- Evidence that the candidate has excelled in the design and implementation of their research project, e.g., the. candidate has excelled in the use of research methods or analysis of results.
- Evidence of current or future impact of the thesis, e.g. on society, economy, etc.
All nominations will be considered by a Faculty Panel who will award prizes to outstanding students whose thesis have impressed the examiners and fulfilled the criteria for the prize.
Prize Winners May 2024
A number of nominations were made for the Doctoral College Thesis Prize and those awarded were:-
- Liam Lachs (SENG) for his thesis Corals and climate change: exploring heat tolerance and adaptation potential across ecological scales
- Rebecca Louise McIntyre (PHSI) for her thesis Exploring the impact of school food policy on 11–12-year-olds diets in Northumberland in 2000, 2010 and 2022: a repeat cross-sectional study
- Ekaterina Yukhnovich (TCRI) for her thesis Targeted Sounds for the diagnosis and treatment of tinnitus in humans in conjunction with Newcastle Tinnitus
- Olga Procenko (NUBI) for her thesis Affective state and visual decision-making in bumblebees
- Emily Rosanna Archer Goode (NUBI) for her thesis Targeting ST6Gal1-mediated sialylation to prevent prostate cancer metastasis and disease progression
- Claire Boden (GPS) for her thesis Morality matters: Class relations in the ex-mining villages of County Durham
- Mustapha Manga (APL) for his thesis Mainstreaming Strategic Thinking in Policy Making for new Oil and Gas Frontiers in Nigeria through a transition to Strategic Environmental Assessment