Instructions and Criteria for DOH Early Stage Researcher Award Selection

At the Diet and Optimum Health Conference, the Linus Pauling Institute recognizes the work of outstanding Early Stage Researchers through the presentation of its competitive, Early Stage Researcher Awards. These awards encourage scientists to pursue research on the roles of diet, bioactive compounds, and micronutrients in human health and disease. Award winners may receive up to $1,000 in cash, depending on the award.

Applications for Early Stage Researcher Awards are submitted online during the abstract submission process for the conference.

Instructions

1. Visit the abstract submission page to submit an abstract.
   • Indicate if you want the abstract considered for the Early Stage Researcher competition*.
   • Provide a brief letter (no longer than 300 words) that discusses your achievements, career goals, and how your work contributes to research on the emerging roles of diet, bioactives, and micronutrients in human health and disease.
2. Visit the registration page, and register to attend the conference. If an applicant has not registered for the conference when the abstract is reviewed, they will be asked to register at that date (late fees may apply).

*Important Note: Finalists for the Early Stage Researcher Award will be asked to present a poster and give a lightning talk during the conference.

Eligibility

• Applicants must have completed the majority of work reported in the accepted abstract as an undergraduate, graduate student, or during the first two years of postdoctoral study. For a young scientist with a medical degree, the two years refers to the actual time spent performing research. The time spent as an intern/resident is not considered part of the two years.
• Applicants must have had a primary role in the reported experimentation, as evidenced by first-author status on the abstract.
• Applicants appointed to faculty positions by the time of the competition will be asked to recuse themselves.

Competition Information

1. Selection committee members will evaluate abstracts submitted for the Early Stage Researcher Awards competition and select finalists in advance of the conference. Finalists will give oral presentations at the conference.
2. To evaluate abstracts in a fair and equitable manner, only the title and abstract will be shared with the selection committee members. No names or departmental affiliation will be known to them at the time of evaluation.
3. Committee members will evaluate abstracts individually on a scale of 1 to 10 using the following criteria:
   • Is the title informative and does it match with the abstract content?
   • Does the abstract provide a good synthesis of the research being done?
   • Is the abstract written so the research is accessible to a scientifically diverse audience?
   • Does the abstract indicate an interesting talk?
   • Is the abstract area of research relevant to Diet and Optimum Health?
4. The committee will meet for a detailed discussion of the abstracts based on the above criteria and select those abstracts scoring highest amongst the majority of the members.
5. The committee will notify selected participants prior to the conference to allow adequate time for preparation of the oral presentation.
6. The selection committee will send detailed presentation instructions to successful applicants by mid-August.
7. Each participant will present a 6-minute talk and allow 2 minutes for questions and answers for a total of 8 minutes.
8. The selection committee will evaluate the talks on the day of competition on the following criteria:
   • Organization (clear objectives, logical structure, signposting)
   • Mastery of the subject and ability to synthesize
   • Communication skills, stage presence
   • Effective slides
   • Depth of commentary
   • Ability to answer questions
   • Staying within the time limit for the talk (6 minutes)

Please note that the abstract submitted for the poster presentation will be the same abstract presented as a talk. The Early Stage Researcher Award recipients will receive their awards at the banquet on the final night of the conference, September 10.