Annual NMD4C Early Career Awards
This annual award program provides three awards, celebrating excellence and contribution to the neuromuscular field by early career neuromuscular investigators across both clinical and basic science streams.
By creating these awards, the NMD4C provides a method of recognizing outstanding achievement by early career neuromuscular researchers and clinicians on behalf of the Canadian neuromuscular community. Recipients receive a tangible accolade to bolster their academic CVs in pursuit of future academic appointments and grant applications. This award program is a part of the network's broader strategy to provide support for Canadian early-career neuromuscular investigators.
Dr. Natasha Chang
Assistant Professor, McGill University and NMD4C Steering Committee Investigator
Early career investigators are at a stage in their careers where finding the funding and academic appointments to continue their research programs and clinical work is integral to their career progression in the field of neuromuscular care and research. These applications are highly competitive, and it is our hope that receiving an NMD4C award can help support and strengthen these applications to secure critical research funding and academic appointments.
Award Categories
The three categories included in the competition are:
- Early Career Biomedical Researcher of the Year
- Early Career Clinical Researcher of the Year
- Publication of the Year
Eligibility Criteria
Researcher of the year award streams
- Early-career status: within five years of the date of their first independent research-related appointment (the eligibility window will be adjusted to take into account eligible leaves, as define by CIHR).
- Member of NMD4C
- Self-nominations are accepted
- Previous award recipients are ineligible
Publication of the year award stream
- Early-career status: within five years of the date of their first independent research-related appointment (the eligibility window will be adjusted to take into account eligible leaves, as define by CIHR).
- Member of NMD4C
- Self-nominations are accepted
- Previous award recipients are ineligible
- Article published in the preceding year (November 2023 - present)
- First or last author of the article
Nomination Procedure
Researcher of the year award streams
If you wish to nominate yourself or an individual for this award, please complete the nomination form (please ensure all of the selection criteria have been addressed). You will need:
- The nominee’s contact information.
- The nominee’s biosketch (NIH OR CIHR format; 4-5 pages).
- Up to three research milestones of the nominee.
- A brief paragraph highlighting the achievements of the individual, and why you think they should receive the award.
Publication of the year award streams
To nominate yourself or an individual for this award, please complete the nomination form (please ensure all of the selection criteria have been addressed). You will require:
- The nominee’s contact information.
- The nominee’s biosketch (NIH OR CIHR format; 4-5 pages).
- Up to three research milestones of the nominee.
- A brief paragraph highlighting the achievements of the individual, and why you think they should receive the award.
- A PDF copy of the full publication you wish to nominate.
Selection Criteria
Researcher of the year award streams
Nominations will be evaluated by NMD4C’s Early-Career committee using the following selection criteria:
- Research excellence (impact, originality, productivity).
- Research collaborations/ partnerships.
- Outreach and knowledge mobilization.
- Trainee Mentorship/ supervision.
- Open science.
- Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigeneity (EDII).
Publication of the year award streams
Nominations will be evaluated by NMD4C’s Early-Career committee according to the following selection criteria:
- Impact on the field.
- Quality of work.
- Originality/uniqueness.
- Open science.
Deadline
The nomination deadline for the 2025 awards cycle is the January 15th, 2025. Applicants will be notified of outcomes in February 2025. Award recipients will be honoured at the NMD4C annual meeting.