Distinguished Dissertation Award
The Division 12 dissertation award is intended to reward excellence, innovation, and social justice in dissertation research by emphasizing dissertation topics that focus on under-researched areas, under-served populations, or innovative topics. These distinctions are broadly-defined and we invite applicants to delineate the ways in which their research addresses one or more of these areas. Topic areas must be directly related to clinical psychology.
Recipients of the Division 12 Dissertation Award must have successfully defended their doctoral dissertation within the last 2 years and be a current member of Division 12. Each psychology department (i.e., not individual programs within a department) may endorse no more than one student per year for each of the APA Division 12 Student Awards. If more than one student from a department wishes to be nominated for this award, the department must perform an initial screening and forward only one nomination per award.
Recipients of the Dissertation award receive a certificate, a $300 honorarium and one free year of Student Membership to SCP (for 2022). The Division 12 Education & Training Committee will determine the award recipient based on the following: goodness-of-fit with award criteria, quality of the completed work, potential for impact (in social justice, continued innovation, etc.), and overall promise for contribution to the field of clinical psychology.
Application Process:
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In 1 to 2 pages (maximum), applicants should describe the ways in which their dissertation research addressed an understudied question, worked with or for an under-served or under-represented population, or provided a novel innovation to a research area. Research that incorporates two or more submission criteria are encouraged.
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Applicants should also provide a brief curriculum vitae (5 page maximum), including scientific publications, presentations, research and teaching experience.
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Finally, applicants should obtain a 1 to 2-page letter of support from the chair of their dissertation committee. The chair’s letter should reinforce the degree to which the dissertation research addressed the award criteria, the promise the research holds for future work, and the merits, aptitude, and promise of the applicant.
Please submit nomination materials electronically to the Education & Training Committee Chair, Dr. Allison LoPilato, via email.
