The Netherlands–Flanders Communication Association (NeFCA) aims to advance the scholarly study of communication and media by encouraging and facilitating excellence in academic research and the creation of an academic community of communication scholars in The Netherlands and Flanders.
In September 2013 the NeFCA board created an award for young scholars in communication and media research. The Young Scholar Award (YSA) is conferred bi-annually, thus alternating with NeFCA’s Senior Scholar Award.
The YSA is meant to honor the accomplishments of young doctors (e.g., post-doc, assistant-professor, lecturer) who succeed in combining their individual academic career with contributions to the discipline of communication and media research. Therefore, the criteria for this award concentrate on a combination of a good academic track-record and notable efforts with respect to the development of the discipline. This means that candidates must be well published, but also need to be (or have been) involved in contributing to the development of their own research group, section, department, or faculty or to the academic community at large. The latter may include contributing to (inter)national academic associations or being involved in knowledge transfer towards society at large.
Candidates for NeFCA’s YSA have obtained their PhD not longer than seven years ago. For the 2020 competition this means that defenses have taken place in 2013 or later. **An extension can be granted for maternity leave (18 months/child) or other types of leave (such as sick leave, care leave), up till an extension of the reference period with three more years in total. This should be addressed in the nomination explicitly**
The award is open to scholars from different backgrounds who are currently employed at a Flemish or Dutch university, university of applied sciences or college. NeFCA-membership is required. Self-nominations are welcomed, as well as the nomination of others. All nominations will be handled confidentially. Nominators should be a member of NeFCA.
The nomination should consist of:
- An updated CV of the nominee, including a list of publications and a brief description of relevant activities with respect to the development of the discipline.
- A copy of the favorite publication by the nominee (according to the nominee’s own judgment)
- Two letters of recommendation by senior colleagues or others describing briefly (max. of 2 pages) the accomplishments of the candidate and clarifying why this nominee is a particularly good candidate for NeFCA’s YSA.
The NeFCA Young Scholar Award jury is chaired by prof. dr. Tim Smits (KULeuven). Other members of the jury are dr. Loes Janssen (Tilburg University), dr. Amanda Pas Alencar (Erasmus University Rotterdam), dr. Joost Verhoeven (University of Amsterdam) and David Ongenaert, MA (Ghent University).
All nomination documents should be emailed to the jury chair prof. dr. Tim Smits no later than Friday 13 December 2019.
Any questions about the award or the nomination process should be directed to NeFCA’s Vice-President prof. dr. Karolien Poels.
The NeFCA Young Scholar Award 2020 will be presented at the Etmaal van de Communicatiewetenschap at University of Amsterdam (6 & 7 February 2020).