ATA SCIENTIFIC AWARDS

If you are a young scientist you can enter our competition to win one of our Encouragement Awards. Our awards are intended to provide you with financial assistance to attend a relevant science conference or to further your research or studies.

The award:
First prize winner will receive the $1500 award and two runner-up winners will receive $750 each.

Theme: No money?

Ernest Rutherford, the New Zealand physicist and Nobel Prize winner, once remarked: “We have not got the money, so we have to think.”

Imagine that funding and resources for your laboratory or project were drastically reduced, to the point where your research could no longer continue as planned.

• How would you personally respond to this challenge?
• Would you look for creative or unconventional ways to continue your work?
• Is your research too important to abandon, and if so, why?

We are looking for your own reflections, experiences, and ideas. Please draw on your personal perspective, your field of interest, or examples from your studies or lab experiences.

How to enter:
Entries may be submitted as a written response (maximum 500 words) or as a creative format such as a PowerPoint presentation, short video, or infographic that directly answers the question.

Entries close 28 November 2025 

Each participant can submit only one entry which will be judged for originality and overall humour. All winners will be featured on our website and shared online. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Contact us to receive updates. Good luck!

ENTER AWARD SEE PREVIOUS WINNERS

Honest disclosure: These days it is tempting to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) as an easy way to respond to our Award questions. The spirit of science is based on honesty and inventiveness. We want you to respond in this spirit. However, if AI is used in any way, then as a budding scientist you know that you should provide clear attribution.

The conditions: The competition is open to science graduates including Masters, PhD candidates and Post Doc scientists aged 30*or younger who work in the fields of the Life or Material or Chemical or Environmental Sciences** in Australian or New Zealand organisations. We can only accept one entry per person. Winning entries will be posted on our website and Facebook and featured in our newsletter. Payment is conditional upon your supervisor or organisation giving written permission for you to receive this award. The entries will be assessed by a panel of ATA Scientific staff. *The assessment panel may take into account extenuating circumstances that might provide grounds for consideration outside this age criterion. **As a guide these fields include Biotech, Protein, Pharma, Food, Agriculture, Chemical, Polymer, Ceramics, Particles, Surfaces, Minerals, Soil and Water.