The Award

The Plasma Physics Division of the European Physical Society (EPS) shall grant up to four prizes annually to young scientists from the 38 European countries associated with the EPS in recognition of truly outstanding research achievements associated with their PhD study in the broad field of plasma physics. The prize shall be known as “The 2018 European Physical Society Plasma Physics Division PhD Research Award¹“ (or, in short, PhD Research Award). The purpose of the prize is to encourage and reward excellence of young researchers in the field of plasma physics.

Value of the PPD PhD Research Award

The award winners will receive an award certificate from the EPS, prize money of EUR 1000 and a 3-year individual membership of the EPS, presented during the opening ceremony of the annual divisional conference. The award winners will be encouraged to present their work as an oral contribution during the following annual divisional conference and their conference fee will be waived. The award winners will receive an invitation to the conference dinner. The laudations will be printed in the Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion Special Conference Issue.

Nominations

Nominations for the PhD Research Award may be made by any individual member of the Plasma Physics Division of the EPS (the Nominator). No self - proposals shall be considered. Complete nominations must be lodged by the Nominator with the Chairman of the Plasma Physics Division or the organizing member of the board of the plasma physics division between 2 October and 3 December 2017 at the address given on the divisional web site http://plasma.ciemat.es/eps/awards/phd-research-award/. Incomplete nominations will not be considered.

Criteria for selection

The PhD thesis must have been formally accepted by a degree awarding institution in the EPS member states during the two years preceding the nomination. The PhD must typically have been awarded within 10 years of the candidate starting his/her first undergraduate course.

A candidate's academic qualifications must be recognized and supported by proven outstanding success in research work, including the potential impact of the nominee's published work. The Selection Committee will attempt to discern excellence in any field of plasma physics. The jury will weigh the depth of the PhD work against the time taken for the work, to respect the significant variation of the time required to complete a PhD within Europe. There will not be a numerus clausus between sub-fields of plasma physics.

Supporting Documentation

A nomination shall include the following documentation:
1. Personal details of the nominee to be provided on the nomination form (available on the divisional web site http://plasma.ciemat.es/eps/awards/phd-research-award/) as well as a short CV;
2. A 5-page synopsis of the PhD thesis and associated research in English, to be written by the candidate;

3. A 2-page nomination letter from the Nominator, including a detailed statement of the nominee's academic qualifications, acknowledging in particular:
– the nominee's international standing,
– the outstanding quality of the work performed by the candidate,
– the nominee's recognized discoveries, theories and findings,
– the significance of the nominee’s research work for the research field,
– the nominee's academic curriculum and time taken in the research,
– the nominee's publications, citation index.
4. Chronological list of the nominee's academic publications;
5. A signed confirmation by the nominee that the research work has been executed by himself/herself;

The documentation items 1 - 5 shall be assembled as a single pdf-file and shall be submitted by electronic mail to the address on the divisional website.
6. A supporting letter from an independent referee, chosen by the Nominator;
7. A supporting letter from the nominee's PhD supervisor, if this is not the Nominator,confirming the outstanding quality of the work carried out.
Documents 6 - 7 can also be included in the pdf or can be sent separately by electronic mail to the address on the divisional web site. The Selection Committee may request a paper copy of the PhD thesis, if this is not available electronically. This should not be submitted until requested. It is not mandatory that the PhD thesis is written in English.

Selection Procedure

Proposals for the awards shall be made annually by a Selection Committee consisting of a Chairman and 2 - 3 members of the Division. The chairman and members of the Selection Committee shall be nominated annually by the Divisional Board and may serve for no more than 3 consecutive years. The Selection Committee shall work independently of the Divisional Board.

The Selection Committee may request a personal interview with the candidate, or may request 3rd party assessment of a candidate. The proposals by the Selection Committee shall take the form of a 300-word citation which shall be ratified by the Divisional Board, by written procedure with the Chairman of the Board who will inform the EPS of the decision. The Selection Committee may propose up to 4 candidates for the award, but may also decide to propose no candidate if the selection criteria are not considered to have been met.

Decision

The decision on the awards will be sent to all nominees in early March, 2018. The award winners will receive their nomination to present an oral talk at the next EPS conference from the Conference Programme Committee. The Selection Committee cannot enter into any discussions with Nominators or candidates concerning its decisions, which are final. The considerations of the Selection Committee are confidential.

¹ The name of the PhD Research Award may include the name of a sponsoring organization, in which case the award shall be known as “The 2018 XYZ and European Physical Society Plasma Physics PhD Research Award”.