Wiseman Prize

Nominations for the Wiseman Prize can be made via the nomination form here.

Closing date for nominations is 15 August 2025.

Eligibility

The Wiseman Prize scheme is aimed largely at research staff and research students (but may also include undergraduates) who make a commendable contribution to the work of the Department. The prize is for individual contributions but may be awarded jointly to a group of people in exceptional circumstances at the discretion of the award committee.

The prize can only be awarded to an individual once in any 3-year period; any second or subsequent awards will be based on an assessment of new and distinct contributions.

The Head of Department will call for nominations from senior administrative staff and University Teaching Officers in the Easter term. Please note that Affiliated Lecturers are not eligible to nominate.

Awardee Benefits

Awardees will receive a formal letter awarding them a "Wiseman Prize". Recipients may wish to mention that they have received this Departmental award on their CVs.  Although we cannot guarantee funding, those making a commendable contribution worthy of a prize will be looked upon favourably when applying for Departmental funds for travel and conferences and for 10^th term funding for PhD students.

Example Contributions

Examples of the types of activities which will result in a nomination are:

• Supervision, leadership, mentoring
• Events, courses, programmes, projects (e.g., seminars, practicals and tutorials, course design, demonstrating)
• Committees, groups (e.g., women@CL, Research Staff Forum)
• Outreach (e.g., volunteering)
• Other (e.g., contributions to social activities, group cohesion, camaraderie, positive environment, collaboration, welfare support to fellow students).

This list is not exhaustive - there are many ways students and staff can contribute. It is not expected that nominees will be contributing in all categories but nominees will be making a sustained or significant contribution to the work of the Department.

Important Information for Filling in the Nomination Form

Contributions should be Department-specific, not University- or College-specific. While we recognise that the work in the research group is important, for the Wiseman Prize we are looking for the wider Departmental contributions.

It is important to make a good case (filling in as many sections of the form -- and as fully -- as possible). The award committee needs this information in order to consider the case. Additionally, the Head of Department letters to awardees are based on information from the nomination form.

The decision to make an award will be at the discretion of a Committee acting on behalf of the Head of Department.

The names of recipients of the Wiseman Prize will be published on this webpage.