The Division of Neuropsychology (DON) is again delighted to invite submissions for the DON Early Career Award 2026. The DON Early Career Award, kindly sponsored by Brainworx, is an ongoing initiative to support and encourage early career psychologists to develop their research competencies, interest, and experience in the field of neuropsychology. In its eighth year now, the judging panel have consistently noted the exceptional quality of the work that has been submitted for the award and we invite early career psychologists to submit their research according to the guidelines outlined below.

The DON Early Career Award will be awarded to the candidate judged by a DoN Judging Panel to have demonstrated exceptional research competency in addressing questions that contribute to the advancement of neuropsychological knowledge and clinical practice This contribution will be evidenced by candidates in their submission, comprising a research abstract and application form.

Eligibility

The DoN Early Career Award aims to recognise impactful research by talented early career psychologists that advances neuropsychological knowledge and/or clinical neuropsychology practice.  For the purposes of this Award, an ‘early career psychologist’ is defined as a candidate who has accumulated no more than ten years of psychological research and/or applied (e.g., psychology assistant, trainee, qualified practitioner) experience since graduating with their primary degree in psychology.  Typically, this will be ten consecutive years, though in some instances this may be non-consecutive depending on personal circumstances (e.g., specified breaks in psychology experience due to illness or injury, career break, parental leave, maternity leave, etc.). A primary degree in psychology is a PSI or BPS accredited (or equivalent assessed) degree in which psychology as a single honours or major subject and confers eligibility for PSI Graduate Membership. Those who have completed a post-graduate conversion qualification in psychology, recognised by the PSI or BPS as conferring Graduate Membership of these Societies, in addition to their initial Arts or Sciences degree in cognate subjects, will also be considered on submission of relevant supporting documentation. In addition, applicants must be members of the PSI. Previous winners of the Deirdre McMackin Memorial Award or DoN Early Career Award will not be eligible. To be considered for the award, shortlisted candidates must be available to present their research as an e-poster to a judging panel on 28^th August 2026. The full procedure for submission is outlined below.

The panel of judges

The DoN Early Career Award Judging Panel is convened by the DoN Committee ECA Working Group. Judges are Chartered Members of the DoN or invited experts contributing to the field of neuropsychological research in Ireland. The judges will use a standardized rating evaluation form to rate the e-posters and presentations.

Assessment criteria

The following research competencies, set out in the European Competence Framework for Researchers, will be assessed throughout the course of the application, shortlisting, and oral presentation of the work;

1. Managing Research

2. Doing Research

3. Managing Research Tools

4. Working with Others

5. Cognitive Abilities

6. Self-Management

7. Making an Impact

The European Competence Framework for Researchers is available here: https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2023-04/ec_rtd_research-competence-presentation.pdf

In addition, judges will also focus on;

1. The relevance and importance of the research topic to Clinical Neuropsychology;
2. The novelty and/or value of the work in contributing to the field of Clinical Neuropsychology in Ireland;
3. The evidence of knowledge in the area and the expertise of the presenter in the context of their career stage;
4. Poster layout and readability;
5. The overall quality of the candidate’s communication skills in succinctly presenting the study and in answering questions from the judging panel.

Procedure

Candidates must submit an application form, which should include an abstract, to be eligible for entry.  The application form is available for download from the PSI DoN webpage (click the News tab) (https://www.psychologicalsociety.ie/groups/Division-of-Neuropsychology) and on DoN social media platforms (LinkedIN, Instagram, Bluesky).

The abstract is to be of 250 words maximum and must adhere to the prescribed guidelines within the application form.

Candidates must submit their application form via email to [email protected] with the Subject “Submission for Early Career Award”. Deadline for submission is 5pm Friday 10^th July 2026.  Submissions received after this time will not be accepted.

The Early Career Working group will short-list candidates based on the quality of the submissions using the criteria outlined above. Candidates shortlisted for e-poster presentation will be informed by 5pm Friday 31^st July 2026.

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to present their research online in an allocated timeslot on Friday 28^th August 2026.

Each e-poster presentation to the judges will entail a 5-minute presentation and 2 minutes Q & A with the poster. Scoring of the presentation will be based on the criteria outlined above. In the situation of a tied score, with two or more exceptional research submissions achieving the same score following all stages of the review process, the members of the Judging Panel will determine the award winner by lottery, as a fair method of determining the Early Career Award winner for 2026. All others on the tied score will receive a Highly Commended Certificate to reflect their research excellence.

It is anticipated that hardcopy poster presentations of all submitted eligible studies (including those not shortlisted) will be displayed at the Early Career Award Symposium on the morning of Friday 4^th September 2026. Details of this symposium will follow in due course.

The Award

The Award winner will be presented with a personalised trophy and a cheque for €250, kindly donated by the award sponsor Brainworx, at the Early Career Award Symposium. In addition, the Award winner has the honour of having their name engraved on the Early Career Award Perpetual Cup, displayed in the PSI office, as a lasting record of their achievement and research distinction. The achievement of the runner up will be marked by the presentation of a “Highly Commended” certificate.