GENERAL INFORMATION

To honour the memory of Robert Austrian for his pioneering and immensely important research on pneumococci and pneumococcal diseases, the ISPPD board announces its intention to award the Robert Austrian Research Awards in Pneumococcal Vaccinology and has defined the research topics and criteria for the selection of award recipients. Based on these criteria, a subcommittee, consisting of ≥3 members of the ISPPD Board will propose the award recipients to the full ISPPD Board for approval. Recipients of the Robert Austrian Research Awards in Pneumococcal Vaccinology will be selected on the basis of an application detailing career achievements and a research proposal.

In this round, up to ten Robert Austrian Research Awards in Pneumococcal Vaccinology ≤$25,000 USD each will be sponsored by Pfizer. Pfizer has selected the International Society of Pneumonia and Pneumococcal Diseases, ISPPD, to manage the Robert Austrian Research Awards in Pneumococcal Vaccinology. Payments will only be made to the administering (i.e. host) institution and not to individuals, and will be made by wire transfer. ISPPD takes no responsibility for the further administration or use of the funds beyond the point of disbursement. The award recipients are expected to submit a short final report within two years of being awarded, and to present their results at the following ISPPD Meeting, ISPPD-14, in Copenhagen (2026). It is also anticipated that their award, bios/photo and the final report will be posted on the ISPPD website.

The winners from the second round of 2024 RARA applications will be announced online, and we may have the opportunity to further acknowledge this outstanding achievement at future ISPPD meetings such as the ISPPD-14 Meeting in Copenhagen (2026).

RESEARCH TOPIC

Preventing pneumococcal disease by affordable and effective vaccination. Research proposals must be aimed at discovering, developing, and evaluating new and improved vaccines, delivery systems or vaccination strategies, and/or investigating the value of vaccination.

CANDIDATES

Geographical representation

At least one applicant from each major geographical region (Africa, Asia/Australasia, Europe, Latin America and North America) will receive an award, provided that the ISPPD Board considers that the submitted application is of suitably high quality and there is sufficient budget available.

Eligibility requirements

• Early-career scientists including PhD students, and post-doctoral researchers who have received their PhD in the previous 5 years.
• <40 years of age at the date of application.
• Professorial level scientists are not eligible for the awards.
• The Robert Austrian Research Awards are open for application to ISPPD members (if you’re not a member yet, get your free membership at https://www.isppdsociety.com/Account/Register).

At the sole discretion of the ISPPD Board, these criteria may be waived for:

• Career interruptions– Applicants who have received their PhD more than 5 years ago and/or who are aged over 40, but whose career development was interrupted because of major illness, substantial caring responsibilities including pregnancy and caring for small children, prolonged part-time study/employment or extensive employment in an unrelated field.
• Other postgraduate qualifications– Applicants with other postgraduate qualifications that will enable them to undertake high-quality research.

Applicants who are applying for an eligibility waiver will need to provide additional information as indicated in the online form. You must include sufficient detail to enable the reviewers to determine whether an exemption can be granted, or your application will be deemed ineligible. No determinations will be made in advance.

SUBMISSION CHECKLIST

Applicants will need to submit the documents from the list below. All documents need to be uploaded to the online application form. Click on the “plus” icon to read the requirements for each document.

In case of questions, please contact the Meeting Organisers at isppd@kenes.com.