Call for the MCAA Awards 2025
Call for applications and nominations: MCAA Awards 2025
Celebrating excellence, innovation, and community impact
The Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA) proudly announces the call for applications and nominations for the MCAA Awards 2025. These prestigious awards highlight and reward members who have demonstrated exceptional contributions to their fields, significant societal impact, outstanding innovation, and dedicated service to the MCAA community.
We invite all eligible members to showcase their achievements and apply for recognition.
1. Overview of the MCAA Awards
Four awards are granted through the application process. Moreover, an additional special recognition is granted by the Board.
2. General conditions and exclusion criteria
A. Eligibility Conditions
Applications are open only to MCAA members who meet the following criteria:
- Membership duration: Registered as an MCAA member for at least 12 consecutive months prior to the submission deadline.
- Prize format: The prize will be awarded as an equivalent micro-grant (non-monetary).
- Language: All applications and supporting materials must be completed in English.
B. Exclusion criteria
The following exclusion criteria are strictly applied across all award categories to ensure impartiality and prevent conflicts of interest:
- Members of the current Board/staff: Current members of the MCAA Board, as well as any individual under a service provider agreement with the MCAA during the year of the Award (in this case, 2025) and until the announcement of the results, are ineligible to be nominated for an award, to act as a nominator, or to act as a recommender for any candidate.
- Outstanding Contributor exemption: Activities that have been compensated through a contract or similar financial support are ineligible for consideration for the MCAA Outstanding Contributor Award. The award is granted strictly for voluntary effort.
- Previous winners: Members who have previously received an award in any category of the MCAA Awards are ineligible for nomination in the same award category in subsequent editions.
3. Award profiles and submission requirements
Applicants must submit their application using the official online form linked at the bottom of this page, including the required descriptive text and two supporting letters of recommendation.
A. MCAA Career Award
The application must describe the member’s career achievements, demonstrating sustained excellence, outstanding work/research experience, and clear impact on the community or field.
- Specific eligibility: Only MCAA members with at least ten years of full-time equivalent research experience (from the date of submission) can be nominated.
- Required documents: The application text and two (2) letters of recommendation explicitly addressing career trajectory and impact.
B. MCAA Best Innovator Award
The application must describe the member’s innovative approaches and explain why they deserve to be recognised. Achievements can take different forms, such as new approaches to research, development of new services, products, and/or methodologies.
- Required documents: The application text and two (2) letters of recommendation explicitly addressing the novelty and feasibility of the innovation.
C. MCAA Social Impact Award
The application must describe the member’s activity with a positive social impact, detailing solutions to social challenges and initiatives with proven impact on communities or groups.
- Required documents: The application text and two (2) letters of recommendation. These must explicitly address the significance and proven outcomes of the social activity, as well as the applicant's specific contribution to it.
D. MCAA Outstanding Contributor Award
The application must articulate the member's efforts to promote the growth of the MCAA, detailing the significant commitment (in terms of time and effort) to the MCAA's internal volunteering activities and functioning.
- Required documents: The application text and a minimum of two (2) letters of recommendation detailing the depth and impact of the applicant's voluntary MCAA engagement. Please note that for this specific category, all letters of recommendation must be provided by current MCAA members.
4. Key dates and selection timeline
The MCAA Award 2025 cycle follows a rigorous timeline, ensuring decisions are finalised one month prior to the Annual Conference.
5. Selection procedure
The selection of winners is done by an independent Award Committee composed of five to six non-conflicted experts.
- Objective evaluation: The Committee uses a quantitative weighted scoring matrix and a minimum quality threshold (70 of 100 points) to ensure meritocratic selection.
- Consensus and rationale: The Committee reaches a consensus-based recommendation, providing a clear, data-driven rationale to the MCAA Board.
- Ethics and integrity clearance: Following the technical evaluation by the Award Committee, a shortlist of the highest-scoring candidates will be submitted to the MCAA Ethics Committee. The Ethics Committee will conduct a formal review to ensure that all potential awardees adhere to the MCAA Code of Conduct and that no undisclosed conflicts of interest or ethical concerns exist. Final recommendations to the Board are subject to this ethical clearance.
- Final decision: The MCAA Board makes the final decision based on the Committee's recommendations. The Committee is empowered to recommend no award if applications fail to meet the minimum quality threshold.
- Communication of results and feedback: Due to the voluntary nature of the evaluation process and the high volume of applications, the MCAA is unable to provide individual feedback or evaluation reports to unsuccessful applicants or nominees. All deliberations of the Award Committee remain strictly confidential. By submitting an application, candidates acknowledge that the Board's decision is final and that no further correspondence regarding individual scores or rankings will be entered into.
6. Application instructions
MCAA members can nominate their colleagues by completing the online application form available:
Please note that self-nominations are no longer accepted. All applications must be submitted by a third-party nominator.
Note on personal data protection:
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By submitting an application:
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Nominators acknowledge that their data will be processed to manage the call and that they have informed their nominees and recommenders about this submission and the associated:
MCAA Awards Privacy Notice - Nominees will be notified of their nomination and provided with details on how to exercise their rights, including the right to object to the processing or withdraw from the selection.
- Data: Data will be shared with the independent Award Committee, the Ethics Committee, and the MCAA Board under strict confidentiality agreements.
All data subjects have the right to access, rectify, or request the erasure of their data. For full details on retention periods and data subject rights, please consult the MCAA Awards Privacy Notice or contact the Secretariat at [email protected].
7. Frequently asked questions
A. Nomination and eligibility
Can I nominate myself for a MCAA award? No. Starting with the 2025 Awards process, self-nominations are no longer accepted. All applications must be submitted by a third-party nominator who is an MCAA member.
Are MCAA Board members or service providers allowed to provide recommendations? No. To ensure the highest standards of impartiality and prevent conflicts of interest, MCAA Board members cannot act as recommenders or nominators. Additionally, individuals under specific MCAA-related contracts (e.g., Service Provider Agreements), and members of the MCAA Secretariat are ineligible to nominate or provide letters of recommendation.
Is it better for an individual to be nominated multiple times than to be nominated once with multiple recommendation letters? Quality and depth of evidence are prioritised over quantity. A single, well-coordinated nomination supported by strong, detailed recommendation letters is generally more effective than multiple separate nominations for the same individual.
B. Letters of recommendation and recommenders
Who can provide a recommendation letter for the Best Innovator Award? For this category, collaborators or project partners are highly encouraged. Because the criteria focus on the novelty and feasibility of the innovation, a partner with first-hand knowledge of the project's development can provide the necessary technical detail. The only restriction is that the recommender cannot be the same person who submitted the official nomination (nominator).
Who can provide a recommendation letter for the Outstanding Contributor Award? For this specific category, only current MCAA members are eligible to act as recommenders. This ensures that the impact of voluntary efforts is validated by peers within our specific community. External recommenders such as academic advisors or non-member supervisors are not accepted for this Award, though they remain acceptable for other categories.
Can the nominator also be one of the two requested recommenders? No. The nominator submits the official proposal, while the two recommendation letters must come from different individuals to provide a broader perspective on the candidate's achievements.
Can I submit more than two recommendation letters? The call requests two letters. While you may submit more, we recommend focusing on the two strongest and most relevant letters to ensure the evaluation committee can focus on the most impactful evidence.
C. Timeframe and format
What is the timeframe for the activities being evaluated? For the Outstanding Contributor Award, the evaluation is not strictly limited to the calendar year 2025. While recent impact is important, the Award can include and recognise sustained voluntary work performed over several years.
Is there a specific format for the activity descriptions? Currently, the format of the activity description is free format. However, we recommend a clear, structured approach that highlights the objectives, actions taken, and measurable impact of the work to help the reviewers assess the nomination fairly.