2025

The Australian Council of Graduate Research proudly presents a suite of awards for Excellence in Graduate Research Education. These awards were made for the first time in 2017 to publicly promote quality in higher degree research supervision, leadership, industry engagement and programs and support.

These awards not only recognise and reward international excellence but will also contribute to good practice in higher degree research (HDR) supervision and leadership amongst all ACGR members and encourage institutions to establish their own award programs.

The following awards will be presented in 2025:

  • ACGR Award for Excellence in Graduate Research Supervision
  • ACGR Award for Excellence in Graduate Research Leadership
  • ACGR Award for Excellence in Promoting Industry Engagement in Graduate Research
  • ACGR Award for Excellence in Graduate Research Programs and Support
  • ACGR Award for Excellence in Graduate Research Indigenous Excellence and Empowerment

Winners of each award will be publicly recognised at the ACGR National Meeting in April 2025 and featured on the ACGR website. Each will also receive a grant of $3000.

Eligibility

  1. Individuals or groups from all ACGR full and associate member institutions may be nominated for each award.
  2. All nominations must be endorsed by their ACGR representative or nominee.
  3. Nominees must have had a continuing or contract position at no less than .4 EFT (or an adjunct appointment) at their nominated University for a minimum of two years at the time of application. In the case of a team nomination, the majority of the members of the team must meet this condition.
  4. Individuals and teams may only apply in one category in any given year.
  5. Award recipients are not eligible for renomination in the same award category within three years of receiving an award in that category.

Nominations

  1. Individuals may be nominated by the Dean of Graduate Studies (or equivalent) in their institution.
  2. Institutions may only make one nomination per category per year.
  3. ACGR member institutions may choose either to nominate the winners of their university level awards for the ACGR awards or to endorse individual nominations that arise independently and are indicative of the level of excellent practice within their institution.
  4. Nominations must be submitted on the appropriate form, abide by stated word lengths and received by the published closing date each year.

2025 Award Timetable
For the 2025 awards:

  • Nominations are now open and must be received by 5 pm AEST on 7 February 2025.
  • The selection panel will meet in mid March 2025 and winners advised by end March.
  • Awards will be presented at the ACGR National Meeting dinner in April 2025.
  • Category winners will also be invited to present at one of the ACGR webinars throughout 2025.

Nomination Forms and Selection Criteria