ERA awards and awards’ protocol

I. General
1. The SAB will be in charge of evaluating the candidates for the ERA Awards;
2. The ERA Council will be in charge of deciding who will be the winners of the Awards based on the pre-selection done by the SAB;
3. No Council or SAB current member can be a candidate for the Awards during their term;
4. A person can receive the Award only once, independently of the category;
5. The Council will be in charge of deciding the final number of Awards granted each year.

II. Categories
The Awards will be chosen from the 4 categories mentioned below:

1. Outstanding clinical contributions to nephrology and/or dialysis and/or transplantation;
2. Outstanding basic science contributions to nephrology and/or dialysis and/or transplantation;
3. Research excellence in nephrology (clinical or basic science);
4. Awards for young investigators:

a. Young investigator award for basic science;
b. Young investigator award for translational science;
c. Young investigator award for clinical science.

III. Submission of candidates
The candidates for the Awards are normally submitted through an open call, however, both SAB and the Council can propose candidates as well.

IV. Parameters
1. Awards for Young Investigators:
The candidates must have:

a. Presented an oral presentation at an international conference to present their own data;
b. Be 40 years old or younger at the time of receiving the Award. An extension of the age limit can be considered if the applicant’s career has been interrupted due to childcare or severe illness; in any case this extension cannot exceed 2 years;
c. Be ERA Full members;
d. Have at least 5 first/last author papers in kidney research-related studies (renal medicine) Journals;
e. Have had an accepted abstract at an ERA Congress.

The evaluation will be based on the candidate’s application form, the papers and the IF of the Journals they are published in and their H-Index (calculated using Web of Science).

2. Other Awards:
For the outstanding basic science/clinical achievements the minimum parameters are:

a. He/She must be an ERA member;
b. He/She must be a person well known and worthy of receiving the Award based on exceptional achievements in the fields of the Award.

The evaluation will be based on:

a. Publications published in Journals with a high Impact Factor;
b. Hirsh Index (calculated using the Web of Science);
c. Lectures in international meetings;
d. Any other awards/recognitions received;
e. Eventual seminal discovery with fundamental impact on kidney patient care or on understanding of kidney physiology/disease.

IMPORTANT. For the Research Excellence Award, there is an additional requirement: the candidate must be between 41 and 60 years of age in the year of the nomination.

V. Awards notification procedure and benefits
1. The Council will select the winners during the Spring Council meeting based on SAB’s evaluation;
2. The names of the winner(s) will be printed in the Annual Report and posted on a specific page on the ERA website;
3. The Award(s) and diploma(s) will be given by the ERA President during the Welcome Ceremony of the annual ERA Congress according to the “Award Protocol”;
4. The winner(s) of the Award(s) will be an invited guest to the ERA Congress, receiving VIP accommodation (i.e. travel reimbursement; 3 nights in faculty hotel; free congress membership – for more details see the “Specifications for Organising the ERA’s Congresses and Meetings”);
5. The winner/winners of the “Awards for young investigators” will also receive a prize of EUR 10,000.00 each; they will receive three years of free ERA Membership (Junior membership) and will be able to become a member of the Board of a Working Group of their choice;
6. The winner/winners of the “Awards for young investigators” will also be given a talk at the annual ERA Congress.

AWARD PROTOCOL
1. The ERA Award(s), the Diploma(s) and the prize will be given during the Welcome Ceremony of the ERA Congress by the ERA President;
2. This will be done after the speeches of the Local Congress President and the ERA President, and, therefore, before the Opening Lecture;
3. The ERA President will give all the Awards, the Diplomas and the prize/prizes after a short description of the reasons behind the selection of the winner;
4. The reasons for giving the Award to a specific person will be prepared by the ERA President.

IMPORTANT. All Award winners should be invited, with their accompanying persons, to the President’s Dinner that is held during the Congress when the Award is granted to them.

Last update: January 2023