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National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF)

Terms & Conditions

ADJUDICATION

The awards are made to an individual or team or organisation (as applicable) for sustained work over a period of time, and not just for their outputs.

  • The outputs are used by the adjudicators as evidence of the nominee’s contribution.
  • The panel can call for interviews with candidates if this is considered necessary.
  • Information provided may be subject to verification and clarification. However, no more information than that supplied with the nomination will be actively sought.
  • The adjudicators reserve the right to consider any nomination in another category from that chosen by the nominator where they consider such category more appropriate.
  • The adjudicators reserve the right to withhold any award in any of the categories.
  • The decision of the panel is final, and no correspondence will be entered into.
  • With regard to the contribution which is recognised by the awards in the individual/researcher categories, this contribution must be made in South Africa (SA) in the defined period. However, it can be based on work commenced or developed/advanced abroad. Short visits of less than a year are discounted.

ELIGIBILITY

  • Only living persons and the teams in organisations still in existence will be considered for awards.
  • Previous winners will not be considered for awards again except where the relevant time period has lapsed, and new work is covered. (See Note 1 below.)
  • Previous winners in the Innovation Awards categories or earlier organisational categories are eligible for nomination provided that the innovation/s put forward does/do not represent a duplication of the contribution which was previously recognised.
  • Whilst a nominee or project or team might be considered in different categories, only one award can be made for a particular contribution.
  • Finalists and winners must be prepared to have their photographs published in the media and to be interviewed

NOTE 1

a. In regard to a new nomination for a prior winner of any of the Lifetime, Researcher, Emerging Researcher or Management categories, the period of new work should have been completed since the prior award i.e. as is appropriate for the new nomination, whilst the previous work recognised in the prior award should be discounted.

b. In regard to a winner in the Engineering Research Capacity Development category, the award recognises the merit of the nominee’s work in addition to the capacity development achieved. Thus a further nomination in other categories should discount the work considered for the previous award and be appropriate for the new award.

c. In regard to winners of the Data for Research category, this is regarded as a standalone award; nevertheless, where the nature of the contribution previously awarded included the collection of data, should a nomination in another category be considered at some stage, the original collection would have to be discounted.

d. Previous winners of the Innovation category, must simply base any further nomination on new work.

e. A previous winner of the Communication category can submit a later nomination in this and other categories but should then discount their communication work on which the earlier winning award was based.

f. Where a winner is included in a team which forms the subject of another nomination in the same year or a later year, the nominator must take deliberate and explicit steps to exclude the work which is to be/was recognised in the award to the individual winner.

 

LIABILITY

  • The NSTF cannot be held responsible for decisions made on the basis of false or inadequate information supplied.
  • Complaints made to the National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF) regarding plagiarism etc will be referred to the relevant ethics or professional bodies for further action.
  • Completed nominations must be received by the closing date. No late entries will be accepted. Extensions to the closing date will only be granted on application in writing where force majeure circumstances apply.
  • Where, at the closing date, the number of nominations are considered by the Adjudication Panel to be insufficient, either overall, or in certain categories, an appropriate extension will be announced.
  • The costs of attendance at an NSTF Awards Gala Dinner (for the announcement of winners) will not be covered by the NSTF and is the responsibility of the nominee/finalist/winner or the employer of the nominee/finalist/winner. If nominated Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) do not have funding for attendance, they can contact the NSTF office on awards@nstf.org.za to discuss possible options.

NOMINATION DOCUMENTS

  • The online registration form must confirm that the nominee is aware of the intent to nominate him/her/them and agrees to the nomination.
  • The final fully completed nomination form must contain a declaration by the individual or, in the case of nomination for a team or an organisation, the team leader (as applicable) must show acceptance and professional accountability for the nomination content as a whole.
  • Dedicated nomination forms are provided for each of the award categories. In some cases, these have been clustered into one form.
  • Where a candidate is nominated in more than one category, the relevant nomination forms must be completed to the extent necessary as is described for each category. It is requested that further nomination forms do not repeat the material provided in the principal nomination form (the first nomination form that was completed). Further nomination forms should cross-refer to the principal form where applicable and provide only the additional or altered material relevant to the category. However, care should be taken to ensure that all information necessary for adjudication has been included or is referred to, bearing in mind that the interpretation of the criteria varies to a degree between the categories.
  • All criteria are relevant and require a response. However, information provided under one criterion should not be repeated under others.
  • Motivations (not including the explanatory text provided) should be no more than 400 words in any one section and no more than 1 500 words altogether.
  • The motivation must be succinctly set out and amounts or statistics included such that the work/projects which form the basis of the nomination are clearly identified and described under the headings.
  • The term ‘work/projects’, should be taken to include a portfolio or a range of projects and is meant to embrace research projects, construction projects, development projects or communication projects as may be appropriate.
  • Patentable and private information disclosed in the motivation under the criteria should be so indicated and will then be treated as such and fully protected.
  • The nominee needs to be involved in the preparation of the submissions to ensure accuracy and comprehensiveness. We require this to be confirmed on the nomination form.
  • Where the nominator prepares the material, the nominee should be aware of and approve the strategy of the approach, as well as the submission content.
  • The nominee may prepare the nomination themselves. However, to achieve a detached perspective it needs to be set out in the third person.

How to Nominate

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Terms and Conditions

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Criteria of Assessment

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NSTF-South32 Awards

SPONSORS AND PARTNERS

The NSTF supports the principle of collaborative, widely-inclusive awards and welcomes collaboration with members and other organisations interested, such as the following:

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