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SAMRC Scientific Merit Awards

Through these prestigious awards the SAMRC aims to acknowledge outstanding contributions to health research, recognise individuals who have demonstrated exceptional scientific acumen or made innovative strides in addressing public health challenges, potentially influencing policy and thereby enhancing the well-being of the South African population.

 

The South African Medical Research Council strongly supports excellence in health research and has established a set of medal awards to recognise world-class science. The Awards are among South Africa’s most prestigious and are dedicated to contributions to health research in South Africa.

Types of Medals

Platinum medals are awarded each year to accomplished scientists for outstanding lifetime scientific achievement in the field of health.  Up to two platinum medals may be awarded each year.  Platinum medals are awarded to South African citizens and permanent residents who have made seminal scientific contributions and who have also made an impact on local and/or global health and/or science policy and/or clinical practice that impact on the health of people, especially those living in developing countries.

The Platinum Medal is a Lifetime Achievement Award for an outstanding scientist who has raised the profile of South African science and helped build the foundations of health research in the country for future generations.

Additional criteria for awarding a platinum medal are as follows:

  1. At least one exceptional scientific accomplishment, breakthrough or contribution to research which is acknowledged at national and international level
  2. Meritorious contributions to enhancing the prestige of South African medical research and/or extending medical knowledge
  3. As a guideline, candidates for a platinum medal should have over 100 scientific papers, with many in high impact journals and several receiving high citation rates (i.e. >500 - 1000 citations) over the course of a lifetime in health research
  4. Serve on national and international panels, advisory groups and working groups in their field of research
  5. Recipient of other prestigious awards and commendations that recognize scientific achievement.

Gold medals are awarded annually to established senior scientists who have made seminal scientific contributions that have impacted on the health of people, especially those living in developing countries. Up to four gold medals may be awarded each year. The Gold Award is a Scientific Excellence Award.

Criteria for awarding gold medals are as follows:

  1. A recent exceptional accomplishment, breakthrough or contribution to research (within the last 5 years) which is acknowledged at international level
  2. This accomplishment/breakthrough/contribution can take the form of a patent or very high impact (IF 15 and over) / highly cited journal publications (a single or a set of related publications with >250 citations). This meritorious contribution must have clearly enhanced the prestige of South African medical research and extended medical knowledge
  3. Demonstrated impact of the research contribution on health in South Africa or globally

Silver medals are awarded annually to early/mid-career scientists from either a MBBCh/ MBChB background or from a PhD background. To qualify they must hold a PhD/ MMed/or equivalent in the case of clinicians e.g. FCP. The award is for important scientific contributions made within 10 years of having been awarded their PhD or MMed. Up to four silver medals may be awarded each year with preference given to two medals for SAMRC (intra-mural and extra-mural) scientists and two medals to non-SAMRC scientists.

Criteria for awarding silver medals are as follows:

  1. Research contributions that impact on the health of people, especially those living in developing countries
  2. Acknowledgements at national and international level for meritorious scientific contributions and/or extending medical knowledge
  3. At least one publication in a very high impact journal or a highly cited publication (> 100 citations).

Bronze medals are awarded annually to scientists who have recently entered into research, with not less than 5 years post PhD experience. The award is not tied to chronological age but researchers should preferably be under 50 years of age.

Criteria for awarding bronze medals are as follows:

  1. Leadership: the researcher must show demonstrable potential to become an established researcher, with distinct and evident scientific and leadership potential.
  2. Capacity Development: The researcher must have graduated Masters students and must be supervising (or have already graduated) PhD students.
  3. Grant writing: The researcher must have independently sourced grant funding for their research work in the past 5 years.
  4. Transformation: The researcher must add to transformation efforts of the SAMRC by either conducting their research in an under-resourced university or involved in capacity development initiatives in under-resourced universities.

Procedures for Award and Announcement

  1. Nominated candidates will only be considered if a completed application form is submitted before the deadline.
  2. The nominee and nominator will be required to jointly submit a signed nomination form.
  3. Incomplete and inaccurate nomination forms will not be considered.
  4. A nominator may not serve on the SAMRC Merit Awards Selection Committee.

 

  1. The SAMRC Merit Awards Selection Committee will meet to discuss and consider the candidates and make recommendations for the Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals to submit to the SAMRC Board for a final decision.
  2. The SAMRC Merit Awards Selection Committee may rollover deserving nominations to the following years for repeat consideration. These candidates will be invited to re-submit updated resumes and a nomination form.
  3. The SAMRC Merit Awards Selection Committee may decide to make an award that is different to that requested on the nomination form e.g. a nominee for the gold medal may be re-assigned to the silver or platinum category by the Merit Awards Selection Committee or the SAMRC Board.  The Merit Awards Selection Committee may decide not to award any specific category of the medals or not to award all the listed medals if there are insufficient suitable candidates.

 

The SAMRC President, the SAMRC Vice President(s) and/or the SAMRC Merit Awards Selection Committee may recommend to the SAMRC Board awards in special categories, i.e. besides silver, gold and platinum medals, to recognise exceptional achievements and contributions to South African medical research. One example is the SAMRC President’s Award for Exceptional Contributions to Medical Research, which is made, at the discretion of the SAMRC President, in recognition of exceptional contributions to medical research.

  1. Awards in the bronze, silver, gold and platinum categories will include a Trophy, a certificate and a cash award to be determined by the SAMRC Board. 
  2. The cash awards currently are:
    R10 000 for Bronze
    R15 000 for Silver
    R30 000 for Gold
    R50 000 for Platinum
  3. Cash awards are made to the primary organisation that the medal winner is affiliated with.
  4. The SAMRC President’s Award for Exceptional Contributions to Medical Research will include a trophy, a certificate and a cash award equivalent to that awarded in the platinum category.
  5. Awards in other special categories will include a trophy, a certificate and a cash award at the discretion of the Board.

 

In the period from 2013 onwards, the awarding of medals is progressive i.e. a recipient of a medal other than the platinum medal may subsequently be nominated for a medal in any of the higher medal categories.

The Lifetime Achievement award is the highest and final SAMRC award that a candidate may receive. Under the pre-2013 SAMRC medal rules, the SAMRC only made awards for significant scientific achievements over a sustained period i.e. the equivalent of the current SAMRC platinum award. A candidate who has received recognition by the SAMRC for lifetime achievement through a pre-2013 SAMRC gold or silver medal or the current SAMRC platinum medal is no longer eligible for a SAMRC gold, silver or another platinum medal.

Hence, winners of the SAMRC gold and silver medals prior to 2013 are not eligible for consideration for any of the current SAMRC medals. Under the pre-2013 SAMRC medal rules, only scientists associated either part-time or full-time with the SAMRC were eligible for the gold medal while non-SAMRC scientists were eligible only for the silver medal. Under the current rules, SAMRC scientists and non-SAMRC scientists are eligible for all medal categories.

 

 

The following individuals are not eligible for SAMRC Scientific Achievement Awards:

  1. Members of the Award Selection Committee
  2. Members of the current Board
  3. The serving SAMRC President and SAMRC Vice President(s)
  4. Immediate family members of (1) to (3) i.e. parents, spouses & children

The following individuals may not submit nominations or be referees for nominees:

  1. Members of the Awards Selection Committee
  2. Members of the current Board
  3. The serving SAMRC President and SAMRC Vice President(s)
  4. Immediate family members of (1) to (3) i.e. parents, spouses & children

In the event that a nominee is associated in some way with an individual listed above, the conflicted individual will be required to declare the potential conflict of interest and to recuse him/herself from any involvement in the process related to that nominee.