The RACI Polymer Division ECR Lectureship

Currently Open for Nominations!

The RACI Polymer Division offers a prestigious early career researcher award, the RACI Polymer Science Lectureship. The award acknowledges significant and individual contributions to the field of polymer science by researchers within ten years of their PhD at the closing date of their application. The eligibility period will be extended in the case of career interruptions, consistent with Australian Research Council (ARC) guidelines. This award will be offered every year.

Previous Recipients

The previous recipients of the Award are:

  • 2024 Dr Changkui Fu, University of Queensland

Conditions and Submissions

The conditions of the award are as follows:

  1. The award is made for individual achievement in the science or technology of polymers and to the landscape of Australian and New Zealand science.
  2. The award is open to any researcher who is an Australian or New Zealand national, or has permanent resident status. Nominees must be financial members of the Royal Australian Chemical Society or the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry at the time of nomination.
  3. The successful applicant will need to participate in a lecture tour of Australian and New Zealand Universities. Every reasonable effort should be made by the applicant to engage with as many departments/institutions in Australia and New Zealand either in person or via webinars. If travel is a viable option, the maximum cost of $3500 will be reimbursed to the awardee to fund associated costs, it is expected that participating institutions will also support the lectureship with accommodation and subsistence costs while visiting their institution.
  4. Submission is by application
  5. Each nominee must submit i) a brief curriculum vitae (maximum 4 pages); ii) a list of publications of other evidence of research outputs; iii) a brief discussion of career interruptions if relevant; iv) a list of three referees; v) the title and abstract of the talk that would be given if the applicant was successful.

The award will be decided by the RACI Polymer Division Awards Committee chaired by the Chair-elect and will comprise at least four members of the Polymer Division Steering Committee. The Committee reserves the right to not make an award. It is the responsibility of the Divisional Committee to ensure that there is no conflict of interest in the Award Committee with any of the applicants (in terms of collaboration research involvement in the last five years, or institutional bias). The Committee reserves the right to include ad hoc members in the Award Committee if there are extensive conflicts of interest or a need for greater diversity.


Call date 18 March 2025

Closing date 30 June 2025

Nominations should be sent directly to Associate Professor Stuart Thickett stuart.thickett@utas.edu.au