1. The competition will be open to nominations from Wednesday 7 January to Friday 27 March 2026.
2. Nominations are to be made by PhD/EngD supervisors, although students are encouraged to promote their own nominations by speaking with their supervisors.
3. The competition is open to any theses which have been awarded in 2025, passed but not yet awarded (awaiting graduation) in 2025, or are passed and subject to only minor corrections in 2025, i.e. theses passed and viva undertaken between 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2025. This can include PhDs by Published Work.
4. Please note:
a. Where a Department has fewer than five qualifying thesis submissions in 2025, the Faculty reserves the right to enter their prize candidates into a joint competition with those from the most closely allied discipline. This process will be managed by the Faculty Chair in consultation with the Departments concerned;
b. Where only one nomination is received within a Department, the Faculty reserves the right to enter the prize candidate in a joint competition with those from the most closely allied discipline (please contact the Faculty in advance of any departmental panel meetings if this is the case).
5. Nominations for prizes for all students should be through the Department of the substantive lead supervisor, unless a special case is made as to why this is inappropriate.
6. Membership of the Departmental judging panels should ideally include both male and female academics to the extent reasonably possible according to the academic composition of the department.
7. To enter the competition, evidence of the quality of the thesis should be provided – this can simply be a supporting statement from the external and/or internal thesis examiners. Evidence from the supervisor must be provided in the form of a statement (one page A4 maximum) summarising the reasons why the thesis is outstanding. This could include mention of, for example, the quality of experimental or theoretical work reported, highly cited or 'hot' papers, intellectual contributions, scholarship, breakthroughs made etc. Departments are encouraged to ensure that current and future impact of the thesis is also considered. (The Department judging panel can request a soft-bound copy of thesis or a pdf electronic version if they would like this submitted as part of the documentation.)
8. Departments are required to inform nominated candidates that should they receive a prize, their acceptance of the prize would normally mean that their name would be published on the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine webpages.
9. Where a department cannot decide on one single first prize winner, departments will be asked to provide funding for the additional first prize(s) at the same value (£500).
10. Departments are required to inform the Faculty with details of the judging process and the name of the successful nominee(s) by 24 April 2026 for ratification by the Chair of the Faculty before being announced
