Research Excellence Awards

The Research  Excellence Awards applications for 2025 have now closed.

The Research Excellence Awards acknowledge and reward individual members of staff and teams for outstanding contributions to research and scholarly activity.

The Research Excellence Awards comprise of the following categories:

• Senior Distinguished Research Awards

  Senior Distinguished Research Awards are for any member of academic/research staff who has at least 15 years in an academic/research post, who have compiled a substantial and continuing record of outstanding research and scholarly activity and who have profoundly contributed to their field in a leadership capacity.

• Distinguished Research Awards

  Distinguished Research Awards are for any member of academic/research staff who has been in an academic/research post for at least 5 years but less than 15 years, who, by virtue of the exceptional quality of their research contributions to date, have demonstrated great potential as scholars and leaders and who have achieved some measure of international standing in their discipline.

• Future Research Leader Awards

  Future Research Leader Awards are for any member of staff within 5 years of their first academic/research appointment who is actively involved in leading an independent programme of research, to recognise emerging leaders in research whose record of achievement reflects ongoing and exceptional growth in their contribution to research.

• Research Recognition Awards

  Research Recognition Awards is for the Faculty of Life and Health Sciences and the Faculty of Computing, Engineering, and the Built Environment postdoctoral researchers, who are within 5 years of their first research appointment and are actively engaged in conducting research, and is intended to recognise outstanding postdoctoral researchers who have made a significant contribution in their area(s) of expertise.

• Excellence in PhD Research Supervision Award

  This Award for Excellence in PhD Research Supervision is a new category for all four Faculties and is awarded to individuals who have been supervising PhD researchers over several years and can demonstrate a sustained body of exceptional supervision, encouragement and support for PhD researchers and influenced research supervision practices and culture within their area of practice.

• Research Team Awards

  There are two NEW team awards this year, they are:

  Outstanding Interdisciplinary Research Team Award

  This award recognises and celebrates the achievements of a research team which brings together researchers and skilled specialists from within the University, with diverse backgrounds and perspectives to address complex research challenges. A group of 3 or more Ulster University staff who are part of an interdisciplinary team comprising of at least two different internal research disciplines (either from at least two different Schools, Research Units or Faculties at Ulster University).

  Outstanding External Collaborative Research Team Award

  This award  celebrates the achievements of staff at Ulster University and recognises how the development of external collaborations can achieve excellent outputs and impact.  A group of 3 or more Ulster University staff who are part of a team on the delivery of a collaborative research project with external parties.

The Process

The call for 2024/25 applications/nominations is now closed.

The application/nomination process is as follows:

Note for the individual awards (Senior Distinguished Research, Distinguished Research, Future Research Leader and Research Recognition categories) candidates can choose to self nominate or can be nominated by peers or line managers.

After the closing date a panel will convene and all applications will be scored against the relevant criteria. The highest ranking applicant or team will be named as the winner(s) and recipient of the award.  All applicants/nominees will be notified of the outcome in Spring.  The winners/winning teams will be honoured at the Ulster Excellence Awards ceremony in May.

Please note

There are a number of new award categories, as well as some changes to the Award's criteria, eligibility and scoring this year, so it is important to review the eligibility and scoring criteria as set out in the Guidance Notes below for each category and choose the most appropriate category.

For individual award categories (with the exclusion of the PhD Supervision Awards category), applicants can only submit an application to one of the individual Awards categories.
For team award categories, applicants can only submit an application to one of the team categories.

Awards: The following awards are for individual award categories only and consist of a grant to support the research and related work of the researcher.

• Awards

  Senior Distinguished Research Award

  • 1 Overall Champion Award (includes a Faculty Winner Award) - £2,500
  • 3 Faculty Awards - £1,000 each

  Distinguished Research Award

  • 1 Overall Champion Award (includes a Faculty Winner Award) - £2,500
  • 3 Faculty Awards - £1,000 each

  Future Research Leader Award

  • 1 Overall Champion Award (includes a Faculty Winner Award) - £2,500
  • 3 Faculty Awards - £1,000 each

  Research Recognition Award

  • 2 Faculty Awards - £1,000 each

  Excellence in PhD Research Supervision Award

  • 4 Faculty Awards - £1,000 each