Science and Society Section Team Award

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Science and Society Section Team Award

Information on the Award

The Science and Society Team Award is presented annually and recognizes a team who employs collaborative models of scientific research, demonstrate equitable distribution of the outputs and impacts of research, and elevate efforts to produce and translate scientific knowledge to serve society. This award is unique in that it is tailored to award a team of researchers and their partners representing both scientific and societal interests, with the goal of jointly addressing societal needs.

Examples of types of projects that would be eligible for this award include, but are not limited to: citizen science projects, research-to-practice or operations projects, and co-production driven research. The award recognizes both the scientific knowledge produced and effort and resources needed to ensure it is valued by those best suited to be informed by and use the research products.

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Award Benefits

AGU is proud to recognize our section honorees. Recipients of the Science and Society Team Award will receive the following benefits with the honor:

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Award certificate
2

Recognition at the AGU Fall Meeting during the award presentation year

Eligibility

To better understand eligibility for nominators, supporters and committee members, review AGU’s Honors Conflict of Interest Policy.

Nominator eligibility

AGU membership is not required for the nominator and co-nominator.
The following individuals are not eligible to be a nominator or co-nominator for the award during their term(s) of service:
- AGU President;
- AGU President-elect;
- Council Leadership Team;
- Honors and Recognition Committee;
- Science and Society Team Award selection committee;
- Science and Society Section leadership, and
- All full-time AGU staff.

Nominee Eligibility

Active AGU membership is not required for the nominee.
This is a team-based award (2 or more individuals). Members should be listed and their roles described. Eligibility criteria require the articulation and details regarding roles and responsibility of research team members, which can include both traditional research roles and non-traditional research roles fulfilled by users of the scientific knowledge or products.
No limitations on experience or career status are imposed on the team requirements, although diversity in experience (both in academic and in implementation and practice) is desirable.
The lead (first) team member is only eligible to receive this award once every three years as the listed lead; they remain eligible for the award as a non-lead team member in all future years. Other team members who served on a team receiving the award are eligible to be nominated again for the award in all future years. If a past award recipient is nominated for the award again, it must be for a different body of work.
The following individuals are ineligible to be nominated during their term(s) of service:
- AGU President;
- AGU President-elect;
- Council Leadership Team;
- Honors and Recognition Committee;
- Science and Society Team Award selection committee;
- Science and Society Section leadership, and
- All full-time AGU staff.

Relationships to a Nominee

The following relationships need to be identified and communicated to the award selection committee but will not disqualify individuals from participating in the nomination or committee review process. These apply to committee members, nominators, and supporters:

Current dean, departmental chair, supervisor, supervisee, laboratory director, an individual with whom one has a current business or financial relationship (e.g., business partner, employer, employee);
Research collaborator or co-author within the last three years; and/or
An individual working at the same institution or having accepted a position at the same institution.

Individuals with the following relationships are disqualified from participating in the award nomination process as a nominator or supporter:

Family member, spouse, or partner.
A previous graduate (Master’s or Ph.D.) and/or postdoctoral advisor, or postdoctoral fellow may not write a nomination letter but may write a supporting letter after five years of terminating their relationship with the nominee beginning on 1 January after the year the relationship was terminated.
A former doctoral or graduate student, or a former postdoctoral fellow may not write a nomination letter for a former advisor but may write a supporting letter after five years of terminating their relationship with the nominee beginning on 1 January after the year the relationship was terminated.

Supporter Eligibility

Active AGU membership is not required for supporters.
The following individuals are not eligible to be a supporter for the award during their term(s) of service:
- AGU President;
- AGU President-elect;
- Council Leadership Team;
- Honors and Recognition Committee;
- Science and Society Team Award selection committee;
- Science and Society Section leadership, and
- All full-time AGU staff.

Nomination Package

Your nomination package must contain all of the following files, which should be no more than two pages in length per document:

Nomination letter: The letter should describe the scope of a collaborative project team composed of researchers and their partners representing both scientific and societal interests, a statement of the roles and responsibilities of various team members and organizations involved, and a statement of the realized or expected societal impact of the work. The nomination letter should also include:
- Statement of Scientific Outcomes and Impact: A description of scientific outputs (e.g., manuscripts, articles, communications, pamphlets, guidance), tools or other products (e.g., websites, user interfaces, decision support, etc.), and societal impacts (e.g., increased technical or administrative capacity, how it addressed an acute or chronic problem) is requested.
- (Optional): Other supporting materials that document and provide evidence of the impact of the team and the project may be attached to the nomination letter. These may include, but are not limited to, newspaper articles, magazine articles, workshop proceedings, etc.
Supporting letters: A minimum of three letters of support, but no more than five, should be submitted. The nominator should seek letters that illustrate the scientific and technical elements of the project, the role and contributions of the team, and the value of collaboration in advancing science and societal impact.
Supporting files: Description and link to published work (e.g., papers, reports, tool, website, software, dataset)

Criteria

Nominators will need to address the following criteria in the nomination package:

1

Impact: To illustrate this, the nomination can describe the realized or expected impacts of the completed or ongoing collaborative project, including: advances in scientific understanding, the societal benefits of the research, and the values of including both the users and producers of the research in the development and implementation of the project.
2

Inclusive & Equitable: To illustrate this, the nomination can describe how team members, across career-levels and organizations, were involved in problem identification and articulation, research design, research project implementation, and transfer of knowledge and technology; describe how the project considered the distribution of potential risks, costs, benefits, and financial resources through all phases and after the completion of the project; describe how vulnerable or marginalized perspectives were included in different phases of the project, including from team members of underrepresented communities.
3

Actionable: to illustrate this, the nomination can describe how the process of carrying out the research and the outputs resulted in increased capacity to improve decisions and/or knowledge.
4

Sustainable: to illustrate this, the nomination can describe how the team and project design fostered continuous knowledge creation and activities that can be sustained over time that result in societal benefit.