& Professor Ron Johnston
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Attention participants…
What is The Pitch?
The Pitch is an annual national prize recognising higher degree by research (HDR) university students for conducting research that can be applied to address pressing issues facing underserved or marginalised communities.
The Pitch is designed to raise the profile of HDR student research that has made, or has the potential to make, contributions to address humanitarian or development challenges.
In particular, the Pitch seeks to encourage students to think about how their research might be applied by governments, institutions, non-governmental organisations, and communities.
The Pitch is open for submissions NOW until November 30th, 2023
Key Dates
Submissions Open – September to November 30th 2023
Judging – December 2023
Prizes Awarded – December 2023
Travel to Hawaii – January 2024
First Place
- One complimentary conference registration for the PTC Conference, held January 21 – 24, 2024, with a travel stipend to help fund a round-trip economy class airfare from the winner’s closest major airport to Hawaii, and five-nights hotel accommodation.
- Cash prize of $1,000 AUD.
- Paid Internship Opportunity
Second Place
- $2,000 AUD Cash
- Paid Internship Opportunity
Third Place
- $1,000 AUD Cash
- Paid Internship Opportunity
• Entrants must be a postgraduate coursework or higher degree by research (HDR)
student currently enrolled at an Australian university or have completed an HDR
degree from an Australian university within the last 6 months.
• Entries must be individual – team submissions are not permitted;
• An individual may only make one submission;
• Entrants will be required to provide evidence of their eligibility under these rules as a part of their submission. Example of evidence is a university ID card.;
Judges
Judging Panel
A judging panel of eminent members from the Australian community with experience in the
delivery of humanitarian assistance and international development has been established by
The Warren Centre.
A formal assessment methodology will be used.
No discussion of any kind will be entered into after presentation by entrants nor will further
clarifications be sought by the judges prior to making their decision.
The decision of the Judging panel is final and not appealable in any way.
Submission Requirements
1. Entrants must put forward a submission in which they connect their HDR degree research to a real problem in a humanitarian or development context (post-disaster, protracted crisis, development assistance or otherwise). Basic or applied research will be considered, but there must be a connection made to practical solutions for communities.
2. The research must make a clear connection to one or more of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
The submission is to be made up of:
• Individual details;
• Portrait photo;
• An abstract of the research, of up to 200 words, including an accompanying optional graphical abstract;
• A video (aka The Pitch), up to a maximum of 5 minutes;
• Supporting documentation (optional), limited to one published journal article, conference paper, or other written work.
• Acceptance of terms and conditions.
Video Criteria
- Video Submission Guidelines
- File Format (mp4 is best)
- Wide frame orientation – (No Reel/Story/Tiktok orientation)
- File size 500-600mbs
- Maximum 5 mins
- File name must be Full Name of Participant
- Submission Link – TBA
Evaluation Criteria
Submissions must be concise and demonstrate the contributions of the research to both theory and practice. Evaluation criteria will be the degree to which the research:
The Problem (weight = 20%)
1. Addresses a real and pressing humanitarian or development problem;
2. Identifies a clear gap in knowledge with existing literature.
The Research (weight = 40%)
1. Uses appropriate and clear research methods;
2. Is novel, original and innovative.
The Benefits (weight = 30%)
1. Describes clear recommendations for practice with defined target end-users;
2. Considers cross-cutting sectoral issues such as localisation, disability inclusion,
gender, and protection;
Communication (weight = 10%)
1. Tells an effective and clear story of need and impact for the research.
Intellectual Property
The entrants retain ownership of their designs.
The entrants license the University of Sydney to use and modify for use their photographs, video and any written content as a part of
promoting the program Awards and the winners.