Early Career Award

The SIP Early Career Award



The Council of the Society of Invertebrate Pathology has created an Early Career award to recognize outstanding contributions from invertebrate pathologists who are in the early stage of their scientific/academic career. The winner of this award will receive an official certificate during the Opening Ceremony of the Society’s Annual Meeting. The SIP council has allocated $ 1,500 (U.S. dollars) for this award.


Early career scientists are eligible for this award if they meet the following requirements:


  • The nominee has made significant contributions to the field of invertebrate pathology through research, teaching, and/or outreach after completion of his/her PhD research.
  • The PhD degree of the nominee must have been granted no more than eight years prior to the submission deadline for this award (Exemptions can be granted in case of parental or sick leave; please contact us via sip@sipweb.org).
  • The nominee is a current member of SIP and, has been a member for at least the past two years. Nominees with active involvement in the society (e.g. has hold division positions, committee membership, meeting organization) will be viewed positively.


Early career scientists can be nominated for this award by an active member of the Society of Invertebrate Pathology or can self-nominate. In both cases, two endorsement letters from SIP members are needed (see below).

The deadline for submission of the nomination is March 15, 2026. Candidates can apply multiple times (in different years) as long as they are eligible (see above) but can receive the award only once during their career.

 

For nominations the online submission form should be completed and the following documents should be submitted as one single PDF:

 

  • The contact information of the nominator, or in case of self-nomination, of the nominee
  • A motivation letter (maximum length 1200 words): This should contain a thorough, but concise summary of the principal contributions of the nominee to the field of invertebrate pathology (research/teaching/outreach). The motivation letter should also summarize the candidate’s future goals and the services that the nominee has provided to SIP.
  • Two endorsement letters from two regular SIP members (one of these being the nominator, if applicable), who have or have had a different professional relationship with the nominee (e.g. Letters from two former dissertation supervisors will not be accepted). Both these letters should clearly describe the basis for the nomination and the nature of the professional relationship to the nominee (if any).
  • The nominee´s CV (maximum 3 pages). This document should contain the nominee’s current contact information, professional record, including the official date of the PhD degree, employment affiliations, list of prior awards, extramural grant records, SIP related activities and publications list.
  • A proposed abstract for the presentation at the SIP meeting.


Procedure: Soon after the deadline the executive secretary will forward the nominations to the Chair of the Award & Student Contest Committee. A committee, consisting of the members of the Award Committee, the President-Elect, the Past-President, and the Trustees of SIP, will evaluate the applications and select the best candidate. The Chair of the Award Committee will contact the winner and will verify the winner’s attendance at the forthcoming annual meeting of SIP. Once the winner has accepted the award, all nominators will be informed by the Chair of the Award Committee.


The winner of this award will be expected to give a 20 min oral presentation, followed by a 5 min discussion during the Annual Meeting. The nominator (or the respective division chair) will be required to give a 3-5 minute laudation to introduce the award winner. Overall this presentation will be scheduled in the scientific program with a duration of 30 minutes (hence a double slot in a relevant contributed oral presentation sessions). The abstract for this presentation also needs to be submitted separately to the meeting organizing committee before the meeting’s deadline (please indicate it is the early career award presentation).


Confirmation that the application has been received will be sent out.  Please note: submitting an award application does not automatically ensure your presentation in the meeting program and abstracts.  To be included in the program, you MUST also submit your abstract to the meeting organizers as specifically instructed on the meeting website.



 If additional information is needed, please contact sip@sipweb.org


Early Career Award Application