The Outstanding Postgraduate Research Award (OPRA) highlights outstanding student research conducted by postgraduate student members of SASP. This year, up to three awards will be given out: one First Place award ($500) and up to two Runner-Up awards ($250 each). The OPRA selection panel will select up to six student finalists to present their research at the SASP conference.
Award eligibility:
- Be enrolled in a postgraduate program or have submitted within the year of application (i.e., between December 2023 and November 2024)
- Be a student member of SASP (https://sasp.org.au/membership-join/)
- Register to attend the SASP conference (https://sasp.org.au/events/conference/sasp-2024-conference/registration-and-awards/)
How to apply
Please read the following requirements carefully.
Your application must include all of the following AS ONE DOCUMENT:
- 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 ONE document (with the allowance of 1-2 extra pages for 2 Tables and/or Figures and/or transcript extracts in total).
Applications can only be submitted electronically as an email attachment (Word or PDF format) to Danny Osborne () by COB Friday 13th September 2024. Please use “SASP 2024 OPRA” as the subject of the email. Unfortunately, late submissions cannot be considered.
Selection process
- Up to six finalists will be 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 by October 4th 2024.
- Finalists will present their research at the SASP 2024 conference in a special OPRA symposium.
- The First Place and Runner-Up awards will be decided based on the original application and conference presentation.
- As of 2024, a People’s Choice award will be decided based on attendees’ votes immediately following the OPRA session (please note that applicants can only receive ONE award. If the OPRA panel allocates First Place or Runner-Up to a finalist who also receives the most votes from attendees, the finalist with the next most votes will receive the People’s Choice award).