Welcome to this first edition of the National STEM Awards!
These awards are an initiative of the STEM Engagement Working Group chaired by Esplora.
Guidelines for Nominators and Nominees
What is STEM? What are STEM subjects?
For the purpose of these Awards, STEM subjects are understood as life sciences, physical sciences including earth sciences, mathematics, IT, engineering and environmental science.
What constitutes a STEM Award?
STEM Awards, in their various singular categories and overarching similarities, are intended to honour, through recognition and acknowledgement, those persons and entities who with their display of ability via personal expression, brought forth an awareness of the STEM pillars to the local situation and in some cases, beyond, out to global.
With this Award, they are being shown an outwardly, conjoined appreciation, via nomination by the general public and selection by a panel of independent experts, for the rippling impact of their past and ongoing endeavours within the STEM agenda.
In this manner, through this Award, these individuals and organisations, become visible local role models, representations of a deep connection with the STEM subjects they chose to follow, embrace and ultimately convey in their very own way.
Award Categories
The 2021 National STEM Awards will be awarded for the following Categories:
This award goes out in acknowledgement of Primary Class Teachers who through their commitment, dedication, and application of their particular teaching approach have motivated their pupils towards the exploration and enjoyment of STEM subjects.
This award goes out in acknowledgement of Secondary School Teachers who have contributed towards developing creative and innovative STEM setups that ignited a passion for STEM subjects within their pupils and their schools.
This award goes out in acknowledgement of an individual, be they an expert, a practitioner, an academic or a researcher, who distinguished themselves through a lifetime contribution to STEM, leading to a significant impact on related research and practice.
This award goes out in acknowledgement of an individual who is currently involved in carrying out outstanding, impactful research in a STEM field, whose results they endeavour to disseminate as broadly as possible.
This award goes out in acknowledgement of an individual who conveys and makes possible the engagement with the myriad stages involved in a research process, from issue formulation and the production or co-creation of new knowledge to knowledge evaluation and dissemination, in a manner that is meaningful and engaging to both researcher and stakeholder (i.e. communities and members of the public or groups who come into existence or develop an identity in relation to the research process).
This award goes out in acknowledgement of a female STEM professional who has made an exceptional contribution to the scientific field, be it as a result of research, discovery, tutoring, mentoring, communication or outreach, and is presently actively involved in scientific work within the STEM parameters.
This award goes out in acknowledgement of an individual who has reached out and engaged with communities and brought about changes in the behaviour and attitudes towards STEM, thus moving others to embark on a STEM-related occupation or project.
This award goes out in acknowledgement of an organisation with an outstanding commitment to the STEM agenda, supporting a visionary employment approach that attracts STEM graduates while enabling and encouraging its current employees to experience STEM-related jobs and work placements within the organisation.
This award goes out in acknowledgement of a community project that reflects a well thought-out, well-structured, coherent, financially viable and scientifically sound STEM approach that focused on achieving sustainable results within the community and possibly beyond.
This award has been designed to encourage, honour, and promote excellence in projects marrying STEM subjects and the Arts as perceived in the excellence of the artistic values of the project and their collaboration with other disciplines.
This is a People’s Choice Award, meaning that the evaluation panel will shortlist the five best candidate projects that will then be submitted to public vote.
Eligibility and Evaluation Criteria
Every Category has its specific eligibility and evaluation criteria as per below. Kindly note that supporting documents will be requested from candidates/nominees (as attachments within the nominee form).
| Award Category | Eligibility Criteria | Evaluation Criteria |
|
Best Primary Class Teacher Award for Inspiring Children in STEM |
The candidate must: – Be an individual (not a school, project, etc.) – Be a classroom teacher (not peripatetic) – Be a full-time or part-time teacher at any primary school in Malta or Gozo – Be supported by colleagues, Head of School, parents or students who can provide evidence that the nominated teacher is exceptional – Teachers who retired in the previous or ongoing year are eligible |
Excellence (30 points) – of teaching approach and methods Impact (30 points) – inspiration for colleagues and children Creativity & Innovation (10 points) – creative and innovative STEM curriculum/lesson plans Engagement, Communication & Outreach (30 points) – including projects or fieldwork within/outside the school premises |
|
Best Secondary School Teacher Award for Contribution to STEM |
The candidate must: – Be an individual (not a school, project, etc.) – Be a classroom teacher (not peripatetic) – Be a full-time or part-time teacher at any secondary school in Malta or Gozo – Be active in teaching one or more of the STEM subjects at school – Be supported by colleagues, Head of School, parents or students who can provide evidence that the nominated teacher is exceptional – Teachers who retired in the previous or ongoing year are eligible |
Excellence (30 points) – of teaching approach and methods Impact (30 points) – inspiration for colleagues and children Creativity & Innovation (10 points) – creative and innovative STEM curriculum/lesson plans Engagement, Communication & Outreach (30 points) – including projects or fieldwork within/outside the school premises |
|
Lifetime Award for Contribution to STEM |
The candidate must: – Be an individual – Hold a PhD/professional doctorate and have performed independent research – Be a distinguished expert/practitioner/academic/researcher who has made a lifetime contribution which has had a significant impact on STEM research and practice – Have a minimum of 30 years’ experience working/ researching/ teaching in one of the STEM-related fields – Retired professionals are eligible |
Excellence (40 points) – of research or managerial work, tutoring or leadership Impact (30 points) – as a role model, in research team / mentoring / leadership Outreach & Engagement (15 points) – communication, dissemination and popularisation of STEM Innovativeness & Creativity (15 points) – breakthroughs and discoveries or innovative approach to problem solving |
|
Young Researcher Award |
The candidate must: – Be an individual. – Be at the early stage of a research career and hold a higher degree, PhD or equivalent. – “Young” is understood as meaning within 10 years after obtaining a PhD or equivalent. – Be carrying out research (research is understood as both basic and applied research) |
Excellence (40 points) – of research and academic path, team contribution, any distinctions or awards Impact (25 points) – on knowledge development, policy and social welfare, mentoring Innovativeness & Creativity (20 points) – of research (novel product/service/approach), of mentoring, of dissemination Outreach & Engagement (15 points) – dissemination of research results and promotion of STEM agenda |
|
Award for Engaged Researcher |
The candidate must: – Be an individual. – Be a researcher having been working in a higher education institution or other research-performing organisation for a minimum of 2 years – Demonstrate formal or informal evidence that they have performed extensive stakeholder, community, or citizen engagement and/or involvement in research |
Excellence (45 points) – relevance of research, methods of engagement, promotion of equality and diversity, outreach and engagement of minority groups and quality assurance measures Impact (45 points) – new and established audience engagement with research, partnerships with communities and other stakeholders Supporting Material (5 points) Testimonials & References (5 points) |
|
Women in STEM Award |
The candidate must: – Be an individual person – Be a female STEM professional working in academia/industry/community work, who has made an exceptional contribution to science in the following areas: scientific research or discovery, and/or tutoring or mentoring, and/or communication and outreach – Be presently actively involved in scientific work in a STEM field |
Excellence (30 points) – academic development/ patents/ visionary research or positions of leadership – recognition in national/ international scientific community – resilience Impact (30 points) – role model for peers, inspiration for society, catalyst for change Outreach / Engagement / Advocacy (20 points) – mentoring, outreach to girls and women, promotion of STEM in the community Creativity / Innovativeness (20 points) – of approach to working in STEM field |
|
STEM Ambassador Award |
The candidate must: – Be an individual – Have a minimum of 5 years’ experience working/ researching/ tutoring/ mentoring in a STEM-related field – Have been actively involved in promoting STEM with a wider audience |
Excellence (40 points) – of methodology and techniques used – leadership in fostering STEM education Impact (25 points) – on community/ school/ research environment, any material produced or major events, inspiration to others Engagement, Communication and Outreach (30 points) – engaging the public – inclusive approaches towards participatory engagement Innovativeness & Creativity (15 points) – of approach to STEM engagement |
| Best STEM Employer Award |
The candidate must: – Be an organisation registered in the Maltese Islands – Be an employer offering jobs in STEM fields |
Excellence (40 points) – investment in HR, policies, support for work-based learning, collaboration with academia Impact (25 points) – of training programmes – inspiration and motivation of employees/trainees – increase in employment of STEM graduates Outreach (20 points) – Commitment to STEM, CSR policy, participation in outreach activities and STEM popularisation Innovativeness and Creativity (15 points) – of strategic vision and recruitment and training approach – of effort to increase R&D |
| Best STEM Community Project Award |
The candidate must: – Be a project (not an individual) – The project can be run by an individual or a collective (whether private, public, NGO, etc.) – Be a project undertaken in Malta/Gozo or led by Malta-based coordinator – Have been undertaken in the past 36 months |
Excellence (35 points) – well thought-out, well-structured, coherent, financially viable and scientifically sound STEM-related project focused on achieving results within the targeted community – excellent community involvement, gender, diversity and environmental sustainability considerations Impact (35 points) – outcome of project and project goals reached – on targeted community – STEM-related awareness raising and societal impact Sustainability over time (10 points) – Legacy of project and potential continuation / replication Innovativeness and Creativity (10 points) – of project concept and/or implementation – of approaches to promoting STEM in the community Outreach, Engagement and Communication (10 points) – dissemination, reaching out to and involvement of newcomers |
| Best STEAM Project Award (People’s Choice) |
The candidate must: – Be a project* (not an individual) – Be a project undertaken in Malta/Gozo, or led by Malta-based coordinator – Have been undertaken in the past 36 months *NB: Nominees may be projects led by individuals, groups, independent organisations or public entities. Multiple applicants for the same project should apply as a single consortium. |
Excellence (30 points) – of relevance to STEAM topic and possibly inclusion of multiple disciplines of STEM – of the artistic values of the project and their collaboration with other disciplines Impact of project on the different stakeholders(30 points) Creativity & Innovation (20 points) – of originality, pertinence, novelty, creativity – includes elements of research and development Outreach & Engagement (20 points) – active involvement of citizens and other stakeholders; awareness raised and legacy |
General Conditions for Nomination
Anyone can nominate the person (or collective or project, depending on the Award) of their choice via the online nomination form.
It is important to choose the relevant Award Category from the drop-down menu provided.
Self-nomination is allowed.
You can nominate one person only per Award Category.
Nominees will be invited to fill in the relevant Nominee Form in order to provide the information and documentation required by the Evaluation Panels.
Nominees will be asked to provide information about their careers, organisations and/or projects, and to attach relevant documentation to the online Nominee Form (e.g. CV, references). This documentation will be used for the sole purpose of evaluation and will not be disseminated or stored by Esplora without the consent of the Nominee.
Evaluation and Adjudication
Every Award Category has its own Evaluation Panel composed of at least three independent experts in the particular field targeted by the Award. All evaluators have signed a confidentiality and conflict of interest declaration.
Evaluation and ranking of candidates will take place in March 2021.
Nominees ranked first will receive an original trophy.
A list of all nominees will be published on Esplora’s website.
The National STEM Awards ceremony will take place at Esplora on the 9th July 2021 and will be by invitation only.
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Please help us reward the best STEM professionals in Malta by nominating your favourite STEM representative via the online nomination form by the 28th February 2021. All nominated professionals need to submit the filled in form by the 15th March 2021. In so doing you will be acknowledging and honouring the contribution of Maltese or Malta-based STEM professionals to society at large.
Should you have any queries please feel free to contact the STEM Engagement Team at Esplora at stemengagement.esplora@esplora.org.mt
