RSAI NEWS | Competitions & Awards

Content

Nominations to RSAI Fellows – Deadline: February 29, 2016

Submissions for the Peter Nijkamp RSAI Research Encouragement Award for an Early Career Scholar from a Developing Country – Deadline: March 15, 2016

Submissions for the 2016 RSAI Best Dissertation in Regional Science – Deadline: July 31, 2016

Submissions for the Stan Czamanski Prize – Deadline October 02, 2016

Nominations to Jean Paelinck RSAI Award – Deadline: December 31, 2016

Nominations to RSAI Fellows – Deadline: February 29, 2016

Nomination and Selection Protocol of RSAI Fellows

Each RSAI member – except RSAI fellows – is entitled to nominate candidates for the RSAI fellowship, but self-nominations are not allowed. Each nomination has to be done through a standard concise nomination form that follows a systematic template, which can be downloaded from the RSAI website.

1. A nominee has to be RSAI member (or a member of any section recognized by the RSAI) and to meet the qualifications mentioned in Annex A.
2. The selection of new RSAI fellow’s takes place only once a year, but nominations can be sent in at any time and will be considered for a given selection round, if they have been received before a given deadline. A nomination has a maximum life of two years.
3. All nominations will be put on a list supplemented with non-elected candidates for the RSAI fellowship who were on the short list from the previous year.
4. The short list will be screened by the RSAI fellow’s selection committee (in consultation with the RSAI director). This committee comprises 3 RSAI fellows appointed by the RSAI Council for a period of staggered 3-year terms. The selection committee has to seriously consider all available information on the candidates and can remove candidates (unanimous vote) who do not qualify.
5. The selection committee can also decide to reduce the list of nominated RSAI members to a manageable number, so that candidates can be selected with a qualified majority. This short list should normally not contain more than 10 to 12 names.
6. The short list is next circulated to all RSAI fellows, who have the exclusive right to vote for (a maximum of) 3 candidate-fellows. No ranking of candidates is allowed.
7. The selection committee can put an upper ceiling on the maximum number of candidates to be selected in a given year, if circumstances dictate so.
8. A vote of at least 1/3 will normally mean election, unless that would exceed the ceiling.
9. The selection committee informs the RSAI Director of the final selection results, who will communicate these results to the selected RSAI fellows, the RSAI Council, and the home institutions of the newly appointed fellows.

Standard Nomination Form for RSAI Fellows

1. Factual bio-data on candidate, including a proof for RSAI membership
2. Professional career of candidate (max. 100 words)
3. Substantive contribution to regional science (max. 200 words)
4. Path-breaking publications on regional science (max. 5)
5. Signs of international scientific recognition (max. 50 words)
6. Reasons for nominating the candidate (max. 50 words)

To ensure full consideration by the committee, these materials should be provided in electronic format (pdf preferred) by February 29, 2016 to Bernard Fingleton, Chair 2016 Fellows Election Committee bf100@cam.ac.uk.

Submissions for the Peter Nijkamp RSAI Research Encouragement Award for an Early Career Scholar from a Developing Country – Deadline: March 15, 2016

Taking into account the rules the Nijkamp Award the members of the respective Jury would like to receive applicants.

The proposals can be send to rsai@apdr.pt, before the March 15, 2016.

1. Goal

The Award recognizes the outstanding potential of an early career researcher from a nation in the developing world and in which there is a formal Section of RSAI, and seeks to encourage the development of the early career scholar as a high quality researcher in the field of Regional Science and as a participant in the international Regional Science community.

2. The Award and Eligibility

2.1 The Award is established to recognize and honour the outstanding contribution Professor Peter Nijkamp, a Fellow of RSAI and an outstanding regional science researcher, has made to the encouragement and involvement of young scholars in Regional Science research and activities.

2.2 The Award recognizes the potential of outstanding scholarship in Regional Science in an early career researcher working in a developing nation where there is a Section of RSAI.

2.3 Each year the RSAI Council will nominate a list of countries which it designates as a developing nation, and in which there is a Section of RSAI, for the purpose of eligibility for the purpose of the Award.

2.4 Eligibility to apply for the Award is restricted to early career researchers, defined as person in full time employment in either a teaching or a research position in a university or research institution in a developing nation in which there is a member section of RSAI, and who has held their doctoral qualification for no more than seven (7) years as at the 31 December in the year in which they apply for the Award.

2.5 An applicant for the Award must have been living in that or another developing nation continuously for at least the three year period from the 31 December of the year in which the application for the Award is made.

2.6 An applicant for the Award must be a member of RSAI.

2.7 The Award is made for what is judged in part on an evaluation of the quality of a written formal research paper on a topic in Regional Science, formatted in accordance with the requirements for submitting a paper Papers in Regional Science, and in part on an evaluation of the research track record and performance of the applicant as demonstrated in a full Curriculum Vitae.

2.8 RSAI will pay the costs of the winner of the Award to attend a meeting of one of the Supra-Regional organizations in RSAI (NARSC,ERSA, PRSCO) or the RSAI World Congress, participate in the conference, present paper at that meeting, and have the paper submitted for review and potential publication in Papers in Regional Science. The costs to be met by RSAI are an advance purchase air fare, conference registration, and accommodation at the conference.

2.9 A winner of the Award will be presented with a certificate at the RSAI meeting at which the winner attends and presents the winning paper.

2.10 Up to two (2) Awards may be made in any one year.

3. Nomination Process

3.1 By April each year the Executive Director will contact members of RSAI and post on the RSAI website a notice calling for applications for the Peter Nijkamp RSAI Research Encouragement Award for an Early Career Scholar from a Developing Country Award.

3.2 An eligible early career researcher from an eligible developing nation may submit a paper and their CV to the RSAI Executive Secretary for consideration for the Award at any time up to the end of November of that year.

3.3 An applicant for the Award must provide the RSAI Executive Director with an electronic copy of a paper, formatted in accordance with the requirements for submitting a manuscript to Papers in Regional Science, that is intended to be presented or which has been accepted for presentation to a forthcoming NARSC, ERSA or PRSCO conference or the RSAI World Congress.

3.4 In addition, an applicant for the Award must provide the RSAI Executive Director with an electronic copy of their up-to-date CV.

4. Jury and Process for Recommending the Award

4.1 In the last quarter of each year, a four person Jury will be named by the RSAI Council to consider the nominations for the Peter Nijkamp RSAI Research Encouragement Award for an Early Career Scholar from a Developing Country.

4.2 The Jury will comprise the Immediate Past-President of RSAI as Chair, an Editor of Papers in Regional Science, and two Fellows of RSAI.

4.3 The Jury will convene (in person and/or by email/teleconference) after 1 January in the following calendar year.

4.4 The Jury will evaluate the applications received and passed onto it by the RSAI Executive Director. The Jury will submit its recommendation(s) to the RSAI Executive Director by the end of February in that year.

4.5 The RSAI Executive Secretary will inform the winner(s) of the Award and, up to a limit of 750 € will make arrangements for their travel to the Supra-Regional (NARSC, ERSA, PRSCO) meeting or the RSAI World Congress at which the paper will be presented.

4.6 The Award must be taken up and the winner(s) attend the conference nominated during that year or the Award will lapse.

4.7 The Award will be presented to the Awardee(s) at the meeting at which the paper is presented by the Awardee(s).

Submissions for the 2016 RSAI Best Dissertation in Regional Science – Deadline: July 31, 2016

The Regional Science Association International (RSAI) invites submissions for the annual competition for the Best Doctoral Dissertation in Regional Science. Regional science is an interdisciplinary field concerned with theory, method, and application of regional, urban and rural, geographic and spatial investigations and analyses.

The winner will be decided by the Selection Committee and will receive a cash award of 750 Euros. Award announcements will be made at the North American Meetings of the RSAI, where participants in the competition are strongly encouraged to be present. The Selection Committee reserves the right to not make an award. Decisions made by the Selection Committee are final.

Eligibility:

1. A dissertation completed in any Ph.D. program in any country is eligible,
2. A dissertation written in English,
3. A dissertation successfully defended, with official graduation date between July 1st 2015 and June 30th 2016,
4. A dissertation on a single or multiple general regional science topics. The Selection Committee reserves the right to determine whether a dissertation is relevant to the field of regional science.

Application (in either PDF or MS Word format):

1. A two-page curriculum vita;
2. A letter of support and nomination from the major professor (also known as dissertation committee chairperson or supervisor) on stationary paper and with signature. The letter should clearly explain the dissertation’s originality and contributions to the field of regional science;
3. The dissertation.

Applications should be submitted electrically by July 31, 2016 to the Selection Committee Chair, Dr. Shaoming Cheng (scheng@fiu.edu). Large submissions can be uploaded to a cloud file-sharing site. Questions regarding the dissertation competition may be sent to him too.

Submissions for the Stan Czamanski Prize – Deadline October 02, 2016

The Stan Czamanski Prize is awarded by the Regional Science Association International in memory of Professor Stan Czamanski, an early recipient of a Ph.D. in regional science (1963), a member of the University of Pennsylvania regional science faculty (1963-1966), a member of the regional science faculty of Cornell University (1966-1988), and a past-president of the Regional Science Association (1975-1976).

The annual prize is awarded to author of the best Ph.D. dissertation proposal judged to exemplify the philosophy and approach of Professor Czamanski, as described below.

The US$1,000 prize is awarded to the student and a plaque to the student’s advisor.

The selection will be made by a panel of three persons: a senior and long-standing member of the regional science community, a representative of the field of Regional Science at Cornell and a member of the RSAI Council.

Students writing dissertations on problems in regional science from around the world are invited to enter the competition, in the spirit of Stan’s all-embracing philosophy.

The award is presented at the North American Regional Science Meetings.

Rules of the competition

Applications are to be submitted by October 02 of 2016 to rsai@apdr.pt. To be eligible, the dissertation proposal must have been defended and approved during the past 12 months.

Each applicant will submit the following:

1. A statement in six pages or less that clearly sets out the research question(s) and issues to be addressed, approach to be used, and product expected from the dissertation research. The six-page limit is exclusive of references, tables and figures. This text and references should be in 12 point or larger font and single-spaced. In addition, a summary (maximum one page) describing the intellectual merit of the proposed research and why the proposed approach may be regarded as implementing Professor Czamanski’s philosophy and approach, as described below.
2. A curriculum vita of no more than two pages.
3. Copies of the candidate’s transcripts for all graduate study. Unofficial copies are acceptable.
4. A separate, confidential letter from the dissertation supervisor assessing the quality and significance of the proposed dissertation research.

Philosophy and Research Approach of Professor Stan Czamanski

In his Introduction to Regional Science (Prentice-Hall, 1975, p. 2), Walter Isard wrote:

“In brief, regional science as a discipline concerns the careful and patient study of social problems with regional or spatial dimensions, employing diverse combinations of analytical and empirical research.”

Professor Czamanski’s research exemplified the analysis of social and economic problems with regional and spatial dimensions. In doing so, he chose judiciously the right combination of analytical and empirical research methods from his tool box to address the specific issue at hand.

Dissertation proposals submitted for the Stan Czamanski Prize will be judged with regard to how the student proposes to bring an appropriate combination of analytical and empirical methods to bear on a social and economic problem with spatial or regional dimensions, and how this combination of methods is expected to deliver greater insights into the problem in question.

Nominations to Jean Paelinck RSAI Award – Deadline: December 31, 2016

Nomination and Process for Making the Award

1. It is expected that The Jean Paelinck Award for Distinguished Sustained Scholarship in Regional Science Methods will be made every two (2) years.
2. Nominations or consideration for The Jean Paelinck Award for Distinguished Sustained Scholarship in Regional Science Methods will be solicited every second year.
3. A nomination for consideration for The Jean Paelinck Award for Distinguished Sustained Scholarship in Regional Science Methods comes from Fellows of RSAI. At least five (5) Fellows must agree on the nomination.
4. A nomination may remain active for five (5) years.
5. A nomination must be accompanied by testimonials from a minimum of five (5) eminent scholars from at least three (3) nations who are able to verify the importance and scholarly standing and importance of the nominee’s publications.
6. The nomination and supporting documents are to be sent to the Executive Director of RSAI who will then forward it to the members of a Selection Jury.
7. The Selection Jury comprises a Chair, selected by the RSAI Council, and who is a member of the RSAI Long Range Planning Committee, plus four (4) RSAI Fellows. A Chair’s tenure is limited to four (4) years. Two (2) RSAI Fellow members of the Selection Jury rotate off every two (2) years.
8. When the Selection Jury recommends making the Award, the Executive Director will inform the RSAI Council in writing of that nomination. Unless within fourteen (14) days more than one-third of the members of the RSAI Council advise the Executive Director in writing of their dissent regarding the nomination, then the RSAI President or Executive Director will advise the member recommended for the Jean Paelinck Award and invite that person to accept the Award.
9. The presentation of The Jean Paelinck Award for Distinguished Sustained Scholarship in Regional Science Methods will occur at one of the supra-regional meetings of RSAI (NARSC/RSAmericas, ERSA, PRSCO), or at the RSAI World Congress.

Demonstration of:

1. Early career scholarly contribution.
2. Sustained continuing scholarly contribution.
3. International impact.
4. Inter-generational impacts (students and colleagues).
5. Impact on other related areas to regional science.

The nominations can be send to rsai@apdr.pt, before the December 31, 2016.

More News at www.regionalscience.org