The Outstanding Postgraduate Research Award (OPRA) highlights outstanding student research conducted by postgraduate student members of SASP. Up to three awards are given out: one First Place award ($500) and up to two Runner-Up awards ($250 each). In 2024, a People’s Choice award was introduced instead of one Runner-Up award.
Award eligibility:
- Be enrolled in a postgraduate program or have submitted within the year of application
- Be a student member of SASP
- Register to attend the SASP conference
How to apply
An announcement will be made to the SASP mailing list when applications open.
Applications involve providing the following as one document to the OPRA coordinator:
- A title page with your name, contact information (phone, address, e-mail address), school affiliation, current enrolment status, and title of your research project.
- A page with an abstract of up to 200 words summarising your research project.
- A research summary limited to 500 words single-spaced on a single A4 page detailing Purpose, Brief Introduction, Method, Results, and Discussion/Implications. A reference list is not required.
- Supplementary materials: You can include up to two Tables and/or Figures and/or extracts from qualitative interview transcripts that are not included in the word count and may be included on additional pages.
In short, that’s three (3) separate pages in the ONE document (with the allowance of 1-2 extra pages for 2 tables and/or figures and/or transcript extracts in total).
Late submissions cannot be considered.
Selection process
- Up to six finalists are chosen based on the merits of the entire application. In previous years, successful finalists have submitted applications based on projects that [a] are programmatic (i.e., multiple studies that build on each other), [b] are theoretically innovative, and [c] communicate the implications (theoretical and/or practical) of the results.
- Finalists and non-finalists will be notified before the conference.
- Finalists present their research at the SASP conference in a special OPRA symposium.
- The First Place and Runner-Up awards are decided based on the original application and conference presentation.
Recipients
Recipients of previous SASP Outstanding Postgraduate Research Awards include:
| Recipient | Institution | Year | Presentation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jordan Hinton | La Trobe University | 2024 | Finalist | Understanding the role of identity centrality on psychosocial health: Evidence from those with sexual minority and/or gender-diverse identitie |
| Christienne Javier | The University of Queenslan | 2024 | Finalist | To be whole: Medical and social determinants of transgender and gender diverse adults’ psychological wellbeing |
| Georgina Lee | Australian National University | 2024 | Finalist | A social identity analysis of working alliance |
| Kieren Lilly | The University of Auckland | 2024 | Finalist | The “Haves” and the “Have-nots”: Antecedents, consequences, and the development of perceived relative deprivation over time |
| Lisette Yip | Flinders University | 2024 | Finalist | Feeling good, looking good or doing good? Exploring how the quality of motivation predicts the quantity, longevity, and persistence of collective action |