EECERA/ Community Playthings Annual Student Research Award

EECERA is announcing a Student Research Award for the 2010 EECERA conference which is jointly sponsored by Community Playthings and EECERA.

Aims:
The aims of the award are:

• To encourage excellence and high standards of scholarship in student research
• To give status to the contribution of student researchers
• To give visibility to the integration of research in practice
• To disseminate the results of student research and practice
• To help students to improve the quality of their research work by example

Eligibility:

The Student Research Award is open to postgraduate students with appropriate status from any recognised university whose research is aimed at developing early childhood policy or practice. The research is not restricted to any particular methodology and entries can be submitted by an individual or a student group. The student’s research project should be nearing completion or have been written up within the past three years. Entrants should be members of EECERA and also intending to be present at the annual EECERA conference to present their research. Awards are presented at the Conference Dinner.

Entry Requirements:

Entries must consist of a 250 word abstract which should be submitted by the end of March and a 3000 word account of the research project and supporting statements from two referees which confirm the action reported in the account to be submitted by 1st July. The submission can be in a variety of forms but there should be a clear link between research and practice within the report. The account should include:

1. The focus of the research
2. The purpose and aims of the research
3. The reason for the choice of methodology
4. How ethical issues are addressed
5. The process of the research and how it impacted on practice
6. A reflection on its contribution to practice
7. Any further plans for development

The deadline for submission of the full paper is 1st July 2010 and all entries will be scrutinised by the EECERA Awards Committee against a set of academic and scholarly criteria. The entry exhibiting the highest standards of scholarship and practitioner research originality will be awarded:

• a certificate
• free membership of EECERA for one year
• a free EECERA conference fee
• a subscription to two Taylor and Francis journals of their choice for one year.

Criteria for Judging Award:
In the submitted account the EECERA Annual Awards Committee will look for evidence of:

• the academic strength of the work and its level of scholarship
• the potential impact of the research on policy or practice
• the original and innovatory nature of the research and its applications
• Its potential contribution to the field

Please submit your paper to Selma Manjee ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) before 1st July. Please put 'EECERA 2010: Student Research Award' in the subject line of the email. Thank you!