ASCEPT Member Awards

ASCEPT offers a number of prestigious prizes to both full and student members the majority of which are awarded at the Annual Scientific Meeting. The call for nominations for these awards are made via the ASCEPT E-newsletter.

Eligibility – member status

Please note a member of ASCEPT is defined as a person whose application for ASCEPT membership has been approved by the ASCEPT Board and has paid all membership fees up to and including the current year. To be eligible for an ASCEPT Award, you must already be a member according to this definition. If you are unsure of your ASCEPT membership status please click here to contact the ASCEPT Executive Officer.

New members must have submitted an application for membership and paid the membership fee before attending the ASM for consideration for prizes and/or travel grants. Undergraduate Student members are not eligible for prizes, however they can upgrade to Graduate Student member if they wish to apply.

Full Member Awards

ASCEPT Michael Rand Medal
The ASCEPT Michael Rand Medal was established in memory of Professor Michael Rand, a founding member of the Society and is awarded biennially to a member of ASCEPT whose research has made an outstanding contribution to the disciplines of clinical and experimental pharmacology or toxicology nationally and internationally. The award is made on the basis of the quality and impact of the candidate’s published work. Each nominee should be nominated and seconded by two ASCEPT members. Nominations are from March – May. 

ASCEPT Lecturer
The ASCEPT Lectureship is awarded biennially to a member of ASCEPT who has made a significant and sustained contribution to the development of pharmacology and/or toxicology in Australasia. Each nominee should be nominated and seconded by two ASCEPT members.

ASCEPT Achievement Award
The nominee must have made substantial scientific or service contributions to Australasian Pharmacology, Clinical Pharmacology, Toxicology or Clinical Toxicology over a sustained period (i.e. >7 years). The nominee must have shown leadership in the advancement and promotion in one of the disciplines of Pharmacology, Clinical Pharmacology, Toxicology or Clinical Toxicology and must be a member of ASCEPT. Each nominee must be proposed by 2 ASCEPT members, with at least one from outside the nominee’s institution. Previous winners are ineligible for a period of 7 years after receiving the award.

ASCEPT Teaching Excellence Award
The nominee must be a member of ASCEPT and have made significant contribution to education and/or training in one of the disciplines of Pharmacology, Clinical Pharmacology, Toxicology and Clinical Toxicology in Australasia.
Such contributions may include for example: • Sustained excellence in teaching that promotes student engagement and effective learning • Innovative teaching methods and assessment strategies • Contributions to the scholarship of teaching and learning • Fostering interdisciplinary and inter-university teaching collaborations • Excellence in supervising and mentoring research students • Leadership in the enhancement of teaching and learning in the disciplines of Pharmacology, Clinical Pharmacology, Toxicology or Clinical Toxicology • Each nominee must be proposed by 2 ASCEPT members (one must be from outside the nominee’s institution) • Previous winners are ineligible for a period of 5 years after receiving the award.

ASCEPT Prizes

In order to be eligible for any award, nominees must be financial members of ASCEPT prior to the judging of the specific award. Abstracts will be considered for the following prize categories:

• Certara New Investigator Awards
• ASCEPT Gillian Shenfield Early Educator Award
• ASCEPT Early Achievement Award for Women
• ASCEPT Garth McQueen Prize (oral prize)
• ASCEPT Clinical Pharmacology Trainee Prize (oral prize)
• ASCEPT Neville Percy Prize (student eposter prize)
• ASCEPT Robert Whelan Prize (student eposter prize)
• ASCEPT Integrative Pharmacology/Toxicology Prize (student eposter prize)
• ASCEPT Special Interest Group Prizes (student eposter prize)

Certara New Investigator Awards
These prestigious awards are presented at the Annual Scientific Meeting of ASCEPT during a symposium designed to showcase New Investigators in clinical and experimental pharmacology and toxicology. Nominations of suitable New Investigators must be made by a member of ASCEPT, who should ensure that the nominee is also a member of the Society.

The application must contain a letter of support and up-to-date Curriculum Vitae of the nominee, and should be forwarded to the ASCEPT Executive Officer at ascept@ascept.org The selected nominees will be invited to present their research at the Annual Scientific Meeting, where they will also be presented with a certificate recognising their Award. 

Click here for guidelines.

ASCEPT Gillian Shenfield Early Educator Award
The ASCEPT Gillian Shenfield Early Educator Award was established in 2012 and is awarded annually to a full member of ASCEPT and is presented at the ASCEPT Scientific Meeting to recognise and reward initiatives in pharmacology education that lead to enhanced student outcomes. The award is aimed at those in the early stages of their academic career. The recipient will be invited to present at the ASCEPT Gillian Shenfield Early Educator Award dedicated session at the Annual Scientific Meeting.

Applicants for the award must have been members of ASCEPT for at least 2 years prior to the Annual Scientific Meeting and at the level of Lecturer Level B (or equivalent) or below. Applicants can be involved in any aspect of teaching in pharmacology or toxicology, either basic or clinical, and should demonstrate that they have changed their teaching practices to improve learning outcomes amongst their students and gathered evidence to assess the impact of the change.

To apply for this prize applicants must:

• select I wish to be considered for ASCEPT Gillian Shenfield Early Educator Award and select oral presentation as the presentation preference during the online abstract submission process
• in addition to submitting a standard abstract, upload an Application Package (in PDF format) as part of the abstract submission process.

Abstract submission deadline – Wednesday 06 September 2023. 

View ASCEPT Gillian Shenfield Early Educator Award Guidelines

All applications will be judged by a panel nominated by the ASCEPT Education Forum. The successful applicant will be invited to present at the ASCEPT Gillian Shenfield Early Educator Award dedicated session at the Annual Scientific Meeting. Dependent on the final program other applicants may be allocated a poster or oral presentation as decided by the Scientific Advisory Committee.

ASCEPT Early Achievement Award for Women
This award, to be presented at the Annual Scientific Meeting of ASCEPT, is to be made to a woman within five years of the award of her PhD, or longer if combined with periods of significant career interruption, for significant achievement in research and scholarship in pharmacology or toxicology.

The award is to recognise the early achievements of women pharmacologists and toxicologists, and to assist ASCEPT to achieve gender equality in ASCEPT’s senior awards and office bearers.

To apply for this prize applicants must:

• select I wish to be considered for ASCEPT Early Achievement Award for Women 2021 and select oral presentation as the presentation preference during the online abstract submission process
• in addition to a standard abstract, upload an Application Package (in PDF format) as part of the abstract submission process.

View ASCEPT Early Achievement Award for Women

ASCEPT Student Member Prizes

Several student prizes are on offer each year at the Annual Scientific Meeting of ASCEPT. Prizes are open to all Honours and Higher Degree (i.e. PhD and Masters) students and clinicians in an accredited training program, or clinicians who have worked for less than seven years full-time since completing their undergraduate degree. To be eligible for ASCEPT prizes, students must be financial members of ASCEPT by the time of judging at the ASM. Undergraduate Student members are not eligible for student prizes – should they wish to be considered for SIG prizes then they are encouraged to upgrade to Graduate Student membership upon acceptance of their abstract for the Annual Scientific Meeting.

ASCEPT Garth McQueen Prize (Oral Communication Prize)
The ASCEPT Garth McQueen Prize was established in memory of Professor Garth McQueen, a member of the original steering committee that established ASCEPT. It is awarded annually for the best oral communication by a Higher Degree student member of ASCEPT. A Higher Degree student includes anyone undertaking a Masters Degree or PhD in a relevant biomedical discipline. Clinicians in an accredited training program and who have worked for less than seven years full-time since completing their undergraduate degree, are also eligible.

To apply for this prize students must:

• select I wish to be considered for ASCEPT Garth McQueen Prize and select oral presentation as the presentation preference during the online abstract submission process
• in addition to a standard abstract, submit an 800 word project description (in PDF format) as part of the abstract submission process.

View 800 word project description guidelines

Students will be shortlisted on the basis of the scientific quality, innovation and significance of their study by an ASCEPT judging panel. Students who are shortlisted for the ASCEPT Garth McQueen Prize may still present their abstract in poster format so that they remain in contention for the poster prizes. Students who are not shortlisted will automatically be included in the poster program and are thus eligible for the poster prizes.

ASCEPT Clinical Pharmacology Trainee Prize (Oral Communication Prize)
The ASCEPT Clinical Pharmacology Trainee prize is awarded for the best research presentation by a Clinical Pharmacology Trainee at the Annual Scientific Meeting of ASCEPT. Eligible trainees will be current ASCEPT members and currently enrolled as trainees in Clinical Pharmacology under the Specialty Training Committee for Clinical Pharmacology. This prize recognises the importance of research to the discipline of Clinical Pharmacology and the importance of experience in presenting at scientific meetings to training in the discipline. All trainees are encouraged to submit abstracts.

To apply for this prize clinical pharmacology trainees must:

• select ASCEPT Clinical Pharmacology Trainee as the abstract theme and indicate trainee status

The six highest ranked abstracts (the number may vary depending on the conference program) will be invited to make oral presentations which will be judged on the basis of scientific merit, relevance to the discipline and quality of presentation. The remaining abstracts will be considered for poster presentation or oral presentations at other

ASCEPT Integrative Pharmacology/Toxicology Prize
The ASCEPT Integrative Pharmacology/Toxicology Prize was established in 2010 and is awarded at the Annual Scientific Meeting to an Honours OR Higher Degree student for the best poster communication in this category. To receive the criteria and guidelines contact the ASCEPT Executive Officer at ascept@ascept.org

To apply for this prize students must:

• select I wish to be considered for ASCEPT Integrative Pharmacology/Toxicology Prize during the online abstract submission process
• in addition to a standard abstract, submit a 500 word statement as per the prize guidelines (in PDF format) as part of the abstract submission process.

ASCEPT ePoster Prizes

All students who submit their abstract prior to the submission closing date and become student financial members of ASCEPT by the time of prize judging at the ASM will automatically be considered for the ASCEPT Neville Percy or ASCEPT Robert Whelan Prizes and any relevant Special Interest Group prizes. For the virtual conference ePosters will not use a standard poster format. Each successful ePoster will include a 3 minute oral presentation and a single power-point slide. Each student member must be a Graduate Student member of ASCEPT to be considered for these prizes.

ASCEPT Neville Percy Prize
The ASCEPT Neville Percy Prize was established in memory of Dr Neville Percy, one of the founding members of the Society, and is awarded annually to a Higher Degree student for the best poster communication at the Annual Scientific Meeting.

ASCEPT Robert Whelan Prize
The ASCEPT Robert Whelan Prize was established in memory of Professor Robert Whelan, a co-founder of the Society, and is awarded annually to a BSc Honours, BMedSc Honours, or equivalent fourth year (e.g. Grad Dip Sci) degree student for the best poster communication at the Annual Scientific Meeting.

Special Interest Group Prizes

Students whose research falls under an area of interest of one of ASCEPT’s Special Interest Groups (SIGs) will automatically be considered for the relevant SIG Prize. Note that SIGs covering clinical research areas (i.e. the Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology SIGs) may also consider registrants in an accredited training program and non-students who have worked for less than seven years full-time since completing their first undergraduate degree, for their prizes. Undergraduate Student members are not eligible for student prizes – should they wish to be considered for SIG prizes then they are encouraged to upgrade to Graduate Student membership upon acceptance of their abstract for the Annual Scientific Meeting.

The following Special Interest Groups award a prize annually to the student who gives the best overall presentation in their specific research field.

• Cardiovascular Prize
• Clinical Prize
• Drug Disposition and Response Prize
• Drug Discovery Prize
• Education Prize
• Gastro Urogenital Prize
• Pharmacogenomics Prize
• Toxicology Prize
• Pharmacoepidemiology
• Neuro Pharmacology Prize
• Respiratory and Inflammation
• Industry and Innovation

Congratulations to the following 2021 prize and Award recipients

Special Interest Group (SIG) Prizes

ASCEPT Prizes and Awards