SAGE Early Career Trajectory Award

SPSP, in collaboration with SAGE Publications, is pleased to award the SAGE Early Career Trajectory Award. This award recognizes outstanding achievements by early career scholars (between 4 and 6 years Post-PhD, October of the academic year you are nominated or later) in personality and social psychology, including contributions to teaching, research, and/or service to the field. Awardees will receive free conference registration along with $2000 to be used at their discretion for research, study, and/or conference travel-related expenses.

Research excellence, advancement, and leadership, demonstrated through e.g.,

• highly influential work that clearly demonstrates adding to the field (through citations, paper awards, or other metrics); 
• developing important theories/ideas;
• collecting valuable data that advance the field;
• contribution to methodological innovation (e.g., analysis tool, statistical approach) or improvement (e.g., analysis tool, statistical approach, recruitment technique); 
• research making impacts on society (e.g., informing policy, improving practices that improve individual and social wellness);
• ability to effectively lead and collaborate with diverse research team(s) (multi-site, international, and/or multidisciplinary, etc.);
• highly-cited and impactful papers independent from the major program of work of PhD supervisor; 
• efforts in research dissemination and securing funding that suggests research productivity (e.g., citations, submitting grants, paper awards, or other metrics); and/or
• editorial board involvement

Teaching/mentoring excellence, advancement, and leadership, demonstrated through e.g.,

• creation or spearheading of new cross-disciplinary or cross-institutional teaching efforts (e.g., specific pedagogical techniques, development of innovative resources shared with others);
• creating new courses and developing/using new methods to improve teaching quality; 
• recognized success in classroom teaching effectiveness;
• pedagogical reach through inclusive and developmental teaching practices (e.g., diverse class examples, and engaging teaching techniques); 
• both of number of students being mentored and the impact of quality practices to support a diverse body of students to succeed; 
• conducting research on the scholarship of teaching and learning (SOTL); 
• contributing to SPSP efforts to support the development of teachers (e.g., Teaching of Psychology pre-conference presentations, professional development sessions or workshops on teaching; and/or
• sharing best practices with the broader community (creating open access to new teaching resources or methods, giving talks on improving teaching practices, mentoring others in teaching, etc.)

Service excellence, advancement, and leadership, demonstrated through e.g.,

• involvement/leadership in efforts to build and support collaborative research networks (e.g. open science work); 
• excellence in creating and supporting diversity and inclusion initiatives (e.g., BLaSPR);
• start-up or entrepreneurial work that provides services that improve the field; 
• involvement in SPSP efforts (e.g. chairing SPSP committees, and task forces); 
• efforts internally at the home institution (e.g., departmental or university committees); and/or 
• efforts externally, such as working with non-profits, government, community partners, and other agencies (e.g., scientific advocacy, policy transformation)

To be eligible for the SAGE Early Career Trajectory Award, candidates must be between 4 and 6 years post-PhD by October of the academic year in which they are nominated (PhD awarded between October 2016 – September 2019). That is, you are nominated in October 2022 for an award due in April 2023. Recipients of the SAGE Emerging Scholar Award are eligible for the Trajectory Award. Previous winners of the SAGE Early Career Trajectory Award and/or the SAGE Young Scholar Award are not eligible to win again.

All candidates should have demonstrated exceptional individual or collaborative achievements in social and/or personality psychology (broadly defined), that are commensurate with their career stage. In demonstrating their achievements, candidates may choose to make either a research-focused, teaching-focused, and/or service-focused case. All candidates will be assessed on their innovation, creativity, and potential to make a significant impact on the field.

Candidates can make a case in one or more categories; research, teaching, and/or service. For each category chosen, a 500-word maximum essay is required. In each essay, applicants are encouraged to supply information that speaks to both: What and How of their achievement (i.e. the context of achievement and barriers they have overcome).

Submission Requirements

• Individuals may self-nominate or be nominated by others
• A 500-word essay is required for each category chosen (research, teaching, and/or service). 
• CV or Resume

Applications Closed

2022

Arianne Eason, University of California, Berkeley

Calvin Lai, Washington University in St. Louis

Jackson Lu, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Sandra Matz, Columbia University

Ashley Whillans, Harvard Business School

2021

Cydney H. Dupree, Yale University

Jim A.C. Everett, University of Kent

Erika Hall, Emory University

Michael Muthukrishna, London School of Economics

Ivuoma Ngozi Onyeador, Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management

For more information,  please contact [email protected]