ANS Awards and Prizes

ANS student travel awards are made to students attending the ANS meeting and are a partial contribution towards their airfare costs. Sponsorship and encouragement of student participation in the annual ANS meetings was made a priority of the society as early as the 1982 AGM. Support has grown from 3 travel awards in 1984 to 71 in 1995 and 98 awards in 2005.

Applications for the travel awards are made online as part of the ANS meeting registration process. Full-time or part-time PhD or MSc students may apply. Honours students are not eligible to apply for travel awards. A maximum of 2 awards may be received during a student’s candidature. The applicant must submit an abstract to the Annual Scientific Meeting as the first author and awards must be collected in person at the Meeting.

Awards do not provide full reimbursement but all eligible applicants will receive a travel award with the number of successful applicants therefore dictating the size of awards, which are scaled according to the distance to the Meeting location. Overseas students are also eligible to apply but their reimbursement will be no greater than that received for any Australian Student.

An occasional award for an outstanding contribution by an individual to neuroscience in Australia, and to the Australian Neuroscience Society. Founded in 1992 and first awarded in 1993 to Lawrie Austin, the foundation President of ANS in 1980. The award is a bronze medallion designed and struck by the acclaimed Melbourne sculptor Michael Meszaros, depicting the artist's view of the chain of connections between the brain, the organism and the outside world.

2006 Elspeth McLachlan
2003 John Furness
2001 Max Bennett
2000 Stephen Redman
1993 Lawrie Austin

The A.W. Campbell Award commemorates the eminent Australian Neurologist whose “Histological studies on the localisation of cerebral function” in 1905 founded cerebral cytoarchitectonics. It is for the best contribution by a member of the society in their first five postdoctoral years.

Candidates should nominate themselves (within 7 years of the award of their doctorate, at the deadline for nominations) by emailing their CV (including list of publications) and a synopsis of up to 5 pages outlining their contribution to neuroscience. The successful candidate will receive a certificate and a contribution towards travel expenses to the meeting at which the award is made. They may be asked to give a 5 min presentation about their work to the Annual General Meeting of the Society. 

2008 P Lockhart

2007 S Solomon

2006 J Bourne
2005 J. Butler & T. Margrie
2004 E. Coulson & A. Hannon
2003 C. Clifford
2000 K. Double
1999 J. Kril
1998 G. Stuart

1996 M. Rosa & J. Taylor
1995 P. Sah & J.-P. Liu
1993 T. Chan-Ling & G. Halliday
1992 P.J. Goadsby
1991 P.J. Robinson
1990 P.R. Schofield
1989 A L Gundlach
1988 D.G. Ferrington
1987 M.C. Morrone & D.C. Burr

The Nina Kondelos Prize is awarded to a female neuroscientist for outstanding contribution to basic or clinical neuroscience research.  The Nina Kondelos Prize was made possible by a donation to the Society by Professor George Paxinos, and it is named after his late sister.  The Nina Kondelos Prize was awarded for the first time in 2007 at the IBRO2007 World Congress of Neuroscience in Melbourne.  Successful nominees will receive $500 plus a certificate.       

Rules for the Nina Kondelos Prize:
1.    The nominee must be a female member of ANS and the achievement must be in the field of neuroscience.
2.    The nominee must not have received other major national or international prizes such as the PM's Prize, Ramaciotti and Glaxo.
3.    Each nominee must be proposed by one nominator, who must also list three supporters. Nominator and supporters must be members of ANS.
4.    The nomination must include a one-page description of achievement and a three-page CV.
5.    The prize shall be judged by a committee appointed by Council.

Nominations for the 2009 NINA KONDELOS PRIZE are due by Nov 20, 2008 and should be submitted to the ANS Secretary. Nominees must be Members in good standing on the 30th June in the year of nomination.

2008 S Rees

2007 J Morris

This award has been made possible by a generous donation to the Society by Professor George Paxinos and Professor Charles Watson, commemorating the new edition of their important key reference text “The Rat Brain in Stereotaxic Coordinates” by Academic Press. The award was established for the most significant neuroscience paper published by a full member of the society, and is judged annually.

1. Any Member of ANS may nominate one of their papers in the field of neuroscience; other authors may be Members or non-members of the Society.

2. No Member may nominate more than one paper per year, but may be a co-author on a paper nominated by another Member.

3. The research in the paper must have been substantially undertaken within Australia or New Zealand.

4. The judges will rank the nominated papers on the basis of their scientific significance.

A PDF file of the paper, bearing 2007 as the year of publication, should be submitted. The nomination may also be supported by up to two short submissions (max 500 words each) from ANS members explaining why they think the paper is significant.

The prize will be awarded to the paper. All authors will receive a certificate, and the prize money will be sent to the nominating authors who will be required to report how it was shared between the authors.

2008: Joint prize between: V. Hammond, E. So, J. Gunnersen, H. Valcanis, M. Kalloniatis, S.S. Tan (2006) Layer positioning of late-born cortical interneurons is dependent on Reelin but not p35 signaling. J. Neurosci. 26:1646-1655.    and     T. Keeble, M. Halford, C. Seaman, N. Kee, M. Macheda, R. Anderson, S. Stacker and H. Cooper (2006) The Wnt receptor Ryk is required for Wnt5a-mediated axon guidance on the contralateral side of the corpus callosum.  J. Neurosci. 26:5840-5848.   

2007: K.L. Spalding, R.D. Bhardwaj, B.A. Buchholz, H. Druid and J. Frisen (2005) Retrospective birth dating of cells in humans.  Cell 122:133-143.

2006: Y. Goldshmit, M.P. Galea, G. Wise, P.F. Bartlett &  A.M. Turnley (2004)  Axonal regeneration and lack of astrocytic gliosis in EphA4-deficient mice
J. Neurosci. 24:10064-73.

2005: G.B. Banks, P.T. Choy, N.A. Lavidis & P.G. Noakes (2003) Neuromuscular synapses mediate motor axon branching and motoneuron survival during the embryonic period of programmed cell death. Dev. Biol. 257: 71-84.

2003: R.L. Rietze, H. Valcanis, G.F. Brooker, T. Thomas, A.K. Voss, & P.F. Bartlett (2001) Purification of a pluripotent neural stem cell from the adult mouse brain. Nature 412: 736-739.

2002 - Joint Prize Between
R. Taylor, S. He, W. Levick & D. Vaney (2000) Dendritic computation of direction selectivity by retinal ganglion cells. Science 289: 2347-2350
and
M. Rosa, R. Tweedale & G. Elston (2000) Visual responses of neurons in the
middle temporal area of new world monkeys after lesions of striate cortex.
J. Neurosci. 20: 5552-5563

2001: Gandevia SC, Petersen N, Butler JE & Taylor JL.  (1999)   Impaired response of human motoneurones to corticospinal stimulation after voluntary exercise. J Physiol 1999: 521 (3): 749-59.

1999: Elston GN &  Rosa MG (1997). The occipitoparietal pathway of the macaque monkey: comparison of pyramidal cell morphology in layer III of functionally related cortical visual areas. Cereb Cortex. 7(5): 432-52

1997: Lipski J, Kanjhan R, Kruszewska B, Smith M. (1995) Barosensitive neurons in the rostral ventrolateral medulla of the rat in-vivo: morphological properties and relationship to C1 adrenergic neurons. Neuroscience 69 (2): 601-18.

For each Prize/Award, members of the ANS Executive* who do not have conflicts of interest with any of the applicants select 3 judges who are ANS members.  The 3 judges are each asked to rank the applicants.  The judges’ identities, rankings and comments are confidential to members of ANS Executive and are not made available to the applicants, to the other judges or to any other person.  The Prize/Award is made to the applicant with the highest mean ranking from the judges.

*The ANS Executive consists of the President, President-Elect or Past-President, Secretary, Treasurer and Editor.  

For the best oral presentation by a Student Member of the Society at the Annual Meeting. Applicants must mark the appropriate boxes on their registration/abstract forms for the Annual Meeting of the Society, and submit an additional copy of their abstract at the time of registering for the meeting. At the deadline for submitting abstracts, applicants must be a Student Member of ANS who has not yet submitted a thesis for a doctoral degree.

Deadline for applications will be the same as the deadline for receipt of registration and abstracts for the meeting. Applicants for the Istvan Törk Prize must register for the meeting by the deadline for submission of abstracts. Full details will be provided in the meeting registration brochure. 

2006 A. Luty, T. Keeble & J. Padley
2005 S.J. Etherington & J.Y. Tiao
2004 N. Price (commended: E. Blessing & T. Puthussery)
2003 R.S. Chung
2002 M. Weible
2001 J. Potas
2000 J. Crane, R. Anderson, M. Anderson
1999 P. Bachelor & Y. Morcos
1998 G. Coleman, J.K. Phillips & J. Fleming
1997 G. Coleman & K. Falland
1996 C. Leamey & K. Ghosh

The Sir Grafton Elliot-Smith Award commemorates the Australian Professor of Anatomy whose major contributions were in comparative anatomy and evolution of the nervous system. Until 2008 it was for the best essay on a neuroscience topic by a student member of the society who has not yet submitted a thesis for a doctorate.

From 2009 the Sir Grafton Elliot-Smith Award will be presented for the best poster by a Student Member of the Society at the Annual Meeting. Applicants must mark the Student Poster Prize box on their registration/abstract forms when registering for the Annual Meeting of the Society. At the abstract submission deadline, candidates must be a Student member of ANS who has not yet submitted a thesis for a doctoral degree.

Deadline for submission will be the same as the deadline for receipt of registration/abstracts for the meeting. Applicants for the Sir Grafton Elliot Smith Award must register for the meeting by the date for submission of abstracts.

Full details will be given in the meeting registration brochure/website.

The Fund was established using profits from the 1991 International Society for Neurochemistry meeting in Sydney. Investment income from the fund (typically $1000-$1500 per year) is available to support several types of activity. (1) To provide a contribution towards supporting an overseas neurochemistry speaker to visit departments in several locations and give seminars/workshops (not necessarily to attend the ANS meeting), (2) to provide a contribution towards travel expenses of a late-stage PhD student or junior postdoc to attend an overseas neurochemistry conference, (3) to help sponsor a neurochemistry-related symposium at the annual ANS meeting, or (4) for other neurochemistry-related purposes.

The selection criteria are that the proposed use of funds be (i) of broadest interest to Australian neurochemistry and (ii) of value to the broader ANS community. There is no fixed format for an application, but it should include details of the activity for which support is sought and the ways this activity meets the selection criteria. Applicants seeking support for an overseas visitor should include a copy of the visitor's curriculum vitae. Where support is requested for the applicant to attend a meeting, they should include their own curriculum vitae. Applications will be evaluated by 2-3 neurochemists who are ANS members.

Applications for 2009 ANS Neurochemistry Awards are due by Nov 20, 2008 and should be submitted to the ANS Secretary. Applicants must be Members in good standing on the 30th June in the year of nomination

For information about international neurochemistry meetings, see: http://www.neurochemistry.org/pages/meetings_index.htm