Award FAQs

We use “awards” as an overarching term, to include grants (which typically fund a project) and prizes (which are usually to recognise an achievement). Through the awards, ASME recognises educational achievements that may not be high profile within home institutions, helps to develop individual educators in their scholarship activities, and enables members to undertake activities and access networks that they might not otherwise be able to.

Yes, nearly all the ASME awards are available to ASME members who are not based in the UK. Where this is not the case, it will be stated explicitly in the application information. International applicants should cost up grants in their own currency and then convert the final amount into pounds sterling to facilitate the review process. We recognise that it may be harder for international ASME members to attend the Annual Scientific Meeting and are actively exploring ways to facilitate remote participation in the conference.

Yes. We welcome applications from non-medical healthcare professionals, and those with social science or biomedical science backgrounds – or any other perspective that could further scholarship in medical education. However, the focus of the activity needs to be medical education (or at least partly medical education).

We offer a wide range of awards and think there will be at least one award to suit every member. Medical students may be interested in the Sir John Ellis prize and the Student Innovation Prize. Newly qualified doctors may be interested in the Foundation Innovation Prize, the TASME professional development bursary, the Teaching Innovation & Excellence award or the TASME ASM Communication Prize. Surgical educators may be interested in the Faculty of Surgical Trainers/ASME Education Research Grant. New Leaders may be interested in the New Leaders Award.

Those wishing to develop themselves, or fund the development of an innovation, might consider the Educator Development Award or the Education Innovation Award. Those wishing to fund a small research project might be interested in the Small Grants or the GMC-ASME awards.

Those who have recently completed a research project might be interested in the Research Paper Award. Those wishing to pursue a full-time PhD themselves, or to supervise one, might consider the ASME studentship. Members might also wish to nominate a very experienced educator for the ASME Gold Medal. Please note that some of our awards include registration for one of the ASME conferences (e.g. the Annual Scientific Meeting, the TASME conference, or the Researching Medical Education conference) – this will be articulated in the information for each award.

Awards winners will be expected to spend their award in the manner agreed and on the timescales agreed (where applicable). All award winners will be expected to provide a newsletter item, blog and/or final report. In addition, award winners will be expected to acknowledge ASME as the funder of any presentations or publications arising from the funded activity, and to inform ASME of these. We particularly encourage publication in the ASME journals (Medical Education and The Clinical Teacher).

Yes. We will reimburse reasonable transcription costs. To provide an example, a recent quote worked out at approximately £80 per hour of audio (plus VAT). For one hour of interview (one hour of audio) it normally takes 4 -5 hours to transcribe. This means that the maximum cost which could be claimed for transcription of a one hour interview was £16 x 5 hours = £80 

Yes, this is possible, but we would ask applicants to justify the need for use of incentives. These might include travel expenses or refreshments.

All applications must demonstrate understanding of key ethical principles, for example as outlined in frameworks such as those outlined by BERA or the ESRC. All scholarship projects will require a conversation with a Research Ethics Committee in their home institution, to determine whether full REC approval is required. Where REC approval is required, the primary application will normally be via the lead applicant’s home institution. Please note that applicants in the UK who are undertaking projects with NHS staff or patients as participants may require Health Research Authority approval.

JASME awards – JASME members who are UK medical students and FY1/FY2 doctors are eligible to apply for JASME awards. Medical students or doctors from abroad who are within the first two years of graduating from their medical school are also eligible to apply for these awards. Eligibility does however vary according to prize (for example there are two separate JASME Innovation prizes – one for medical students and one for FY doctors) so check the specific prize criteria for further details.

TASME awards – TASME members who are trainees beyond FY2 are eligible to apply for TASME awards. Eligibility does however vary according to prize so check the specific prize criteria for further details.

We cannot enter into any discussion about when award decision will be made. Each award has a different process involving different assessors, often across the world. The assessors evaluate the awards in addition to their normal jobs, and this can take time, especially if meetings and discussion are required in order to finalise decisions. Every submitter will be informed of the outcome of the assessment as soon as possible and we aim to turn this around within 90 days of the deadline. No communication will be entered into regarding whether or not we have the results, please be assured they are disseminated as soon as possible.

We welcome your application.  Please look carefully at the criteria provided to be sure your applicant team and application meet the stated criteria.  Unfortunately we cannot comment on whether specific applications or application ideas meet the criteria, since this is group decision made by a panel of reviewers, but do let us know if the criteria are unclear

Please check the criteria for the award you wish to apply for and it will state if membership is required as well as what type of membership . If membership is not mentioned then you can apply without being a member.

We do not accept applications after the deadline, to ensure parity for all applicants.

If there is an unforeseen situation that is out of the applicant’s sphere of influence and does not contribute to the main body of the application, for example, a delay to a signed statement of support, a short extension for that part of the application may be accommodated if permission is sought and granted by the ASME awards team in advance of the deadline, and not on the actual deadline day to allow us time to respond. Please note that we aim to open our awards for applications as far as possible in advance to allow applicants time to collect any evidence for submission and prepare for their full and timely application.

The assessors’ decision is final for all awards and no correspondence will be entered into regarding the outcome, other than providing the applicant with the result and the assessors’ feedback.