Inorganic Chemistry Divisional Awards

Burrows Award

The Award commemorates George Joseph Burrows (1888-1950). Burrows was appointed to the staff of the University of Sydney in 1919 and made important contributions to coordination chemistry during the following twenty-one years, especially in the field of metal-tertiary arsine complexes. Collaborators of Burrows included E.E. Turner, Sir Ian Wark and Sir Ronald Nyholm. Burrows was the Royal Society of New South Wales' Liversidge Lecturer in 1940. The 30th Burrows Award is to be presented at the IC24: The 24th RACI Inorganic Chemistry Conference.

In 2024, the award will consist of a citation and a metal sculpture, free registration at the IC24, a return economy airfare to Sydney from the awardee's home city and $750 towards accommodation expenses (if the awardee is not a resident of Sydney).

Eligibility

The award is based on consideration of the candidate’s scientific work published in the past 10 years, together with other evidence of their standing in the international community. A major portion of the relevant scientific work must have been carried out in Australia and/or New Zealand. The eligibility period may be extended, to take into account interruptions, consistent with Australian Research Council (ARC) guidelines.

Nominations

Candidates, who must be financial members of the RACI or NZIC at the time of nomination, may apply personally or be nominated by other members. The nomination should contain the following:

• a brief curriculum vitae;
• a list of publications, for the timeframe relevant to the nomination, demonstrating significant contribution to the field of inorganic chemistry;
• reprints of no more than 10 of the most significant of these publications;
• any supporting information that could be helpful to the selection committee.

Nominees should also arrange for two independent testimonials to be forwarded to the Division Secretary.

The award will be decided by a selection panel appointed by the divisional committee and chaired by the Chair of the division. The panel will comprise representatives from the divisional committee and may include ad hoc members appointed from outside the committee to provide greater expertise and diversity when required. The committee reserves the right not to make an award. 

It is the responsibility of the divisional committee to ensure that there is no conflict of interest (in terms of collaborative research involvement or institutional bias) between members of the selection committee and any of the applicants.

Nominations are to be submitted online (link on this page).

Members will be advised when nominations open for submission.

Following the deadline, no additional applications or nominations for the award will be considered.

If the selection committee determines that no candidate demonstrates adequate merit, they reserve the right to abstain from granting the award.

Link here

Alan Sargeson Lectureship

The RACI Inorganic Chemistry Division offers a prestigious early career researcher award, the Alan Sargeson Lectureship. The award acknowledges significant and innovative individual contributions to the field by researchers within ten years of the award of their PhD at the closing date of the application. The eligibility period may be extended, to take into account interruptions, consistent with Australian Research Council (ARC) guidelines.

Eligibility

The award is open to any researcher who is an Australian or New Zealand national, or has permanent resident status, and is based on research undertaken predominantly in Australia or New Zealand. Nominees must be financial members of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute or the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry at the time of nomination.

The award is associated to a lecture tour of Australian and New Zealand Universities. Every reasonable effort should be made to ensure that the awardee broadly engages with as many departments/institutions as possible in Australia and New Zealand, either in person (if possible) or through webinars. If travel is a practical option, a maximum total cost of $3,500 will be reimbursed to the awardee, while host institutions are expected to meet accommodation and subsistence costs for the visit.

Nominations

Applications are by nomination only. Nominees are required to supply the following:

• a brief curriculum vitae;
• a list of publications or other evidence of research output;
• a list of three referees;
• the title and abstract of the talk that would be given if the application was successful.

The Award will be decided by a selection panel appointed by the divisional committee and chaired by the Chair of the division. The panel will comprise representatives from the divisional committee and may include ad hoc members appointed from outside the committee to provide greater expertise and diversity when required. The committee reserves the right not to make an award.

It is the responsibility of the divisional committee to ensure that there is no conflict of interest (in terms of collaborative research involvement or institutional bias) between members of the judging panel and any of the applicants.

Nominations are to be submitted online (link on this page).

Members will be advised when nominations open for submission.

Following the deadline, no additional applications or nominations for the award will be considered.

If the selection committee determines that no candidate demonstrates adequate merit, they reserve the right to abstain from granting the award.

Link here

Don Stranks Award

Don Stranks was a leading member of the Australian and international inorganic chemistry community. Prior to his appointment as Vice Chancellor of the University of Adelaide, Don Stranks had been Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Adelaide and Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at The University of Melbourne. The Don Stranks Awards commemorate his substantial contribution to inorganic chemistry in Australia, and particularly his nurturing and encouragement of students. The Don Stranks Awards are open to student member of the RACI, and recognise outstanding performance in research within a current PhD candidature. The awards are made at National Conferences of the Division of Inorganic Chemistry.

Student members of the RACI (or an affiliated society) attending a national conference of the Division of Inorganic Chemistry should indicate that they wish their work to be considered for the awards when submitting abstracts for posters for the conference. There is a limit of one application per student delegate.

From the applications, a short list of up to six students will be selected, and in addition to their poster presentation, each of these students will be invited to make an oral presentation of their work in a special session in the conference program.

There will be two Don Stranks Awards which each carry a cash prize of $300. 

All students selected to give oral presentations of their work in the Don Stranks Awards session will have their registration costs reimbursed.

It is the responsibility of the divisional committee to ensure that there is no conflict of interest (in terms of collaborative research involvement or institutional bias) between members of the judging panel and any of the applicants.

Following the deadline, no additional applications or nominations for the award will be considered.

If the judging panel determines that no candidate demonstrates adequate merit, they reserve the right to abstain from granting the award.

Link here

Organometallic Chemistry Award

The Organometallic Chemistry Award is jointly awarded by the Inorganic Chemistry and Organic Chemistry Divisions of the RACI.

Eligibility
The award is given to a financial member of the RACI, with no more than 12 years of professional experience since completing their most recent relevant qualification, for contributions to the development of organometallic chemistry. The eligibility period may be extended, to take into account interruptions, consistent with Australian Research Council (ARC) guidelines.

The contribution will be for research work published, or accepted for publication, including patents and industrial reports. The work covers the period of ten years immediately preceding the award, with the major proportion being carried out in Australia.
The award is for any area of organometallic chemistry encompassing synthesis, structure, catalysis, environmental, industrial materials, main group, transition metal and f-block chemistry and bioorganometallics.

Nominations
Candidates may apply personally or be nominated by other members of the RACI.

Proposals should contain the following information:

• a brief curriculum vitae;
• a list of publications for the past 10 years (to the time of the nomination) for which there has been a significant contribution to the field of organometallic chemistry;
• reprints of no more than 10 of the most significant of these publications;
• any supporting information that could be helpful to the judging panel.

Nominees should also arrange for two independent testimonials to be included with their application.

It is the responsibility of the divisional committee to ensure that there is no conflict of interest (in terms of collaborative research involvement or institutional bias) between members of the judging panel and any of the applicants.

Nominations are to be submitted online (link on this page).

Members will be advised when nominations open for submission.

Following the deadline, no additional applications or nominations for the award will be considered.

If the selection committee determines that no candidate demonstrates adequate merit, they reserve the right to abstain from granting the award.

Link here