BSDB Beddington medal nomination deadline: February 15th 2021

The Beddington Medal is the BSDB’s major commendation to promising young biologists, awarded for the best PhD thesis in Developmental Biology defended in the year previous to the award. It was announced in 2002 [letter #23/2] and first awarded in 2004.

Rosa Beddington was one of the greatest talents and inspirational leaders in the field of developmental biology. Rosa made an enormous contribution to the field in general and to the BSDB in particular, so it seemed entirely appropriate that the Society should establish a lasting memorial to her. The design of the medal, mice on a stylised DNA helix, is from artwork by Rosa herself.

Nominations for the Beddington Medal

The eligibility period covers PhD dissertations which were defended during the calendar year previous to the award (i.e. until end of December 2020). Furthermore, applicants need to have at least one paper accepted or close to acceptance. Nominations should be in two parts:

1. From the candidate, up to 2 pages A4 describing the thesis and supplemented with up to 1 extra page of figures from the thesis to illustrate key results, plus a 1 page CV, including statement of prizes/awards already received. These should all be in the form of a single pdf file of no more than 1 MB. A candidate exceeding these limits risks having to resubmit their application. In addition, candidates should supply formal documentation of the date of submission of the thesis.
2. From the candidate’s PhD thesis supervisor, a letter of support, sent independently, consisting of no more than 2 pages A4, describing why the student was deserving of this award. This letter should explicitly comment on the status of publications arising/expected from the thesis work, and also on any unusual circumstances, including duration of study.

Candidates can be of any nationality, must be BSDB members at the time of nomination, and at least one of their supervisors must be UK-based. Nominees must be able to attend the BSDB Spring Meeting, where the winner is to present a plenary talk.

All nominations received will be considered and voted upon by the Committee and the winner invited to present the Beddington Medal lecture on their thesis work at the following BSDB Spring Meeting.

Nominations should be sent to the BSDB Secretary (secretary@bsdb.org).