Excellent Doctoral Dissertation in Behavioral Health Award 2017

OBJECTIVE: The Hong Kong Society of Behavioral Health Excellent Doctoral Dissertation in Behavioral Health Award was established in 2015 and seeks to recognize the importance of behavioral health research. It aims to encourage the newer generations of researchers to engage in behavioral health research.

AWARD: An official certificate and a cash prize of HKD1000 will be presented to up to two applicants per year. The society reserves the right to present no award, one award or two awards, depending on quality of applications.

ELIGIBILTY: The applicant should be a full or associate member of the Hong Kong Society of Behavioral Health. If the applicant is not a member, his/her thesis supervisor must be a full member of the society and endorse the application. The doctoral dissertation must have been completed during the past two calendar years (July 2014-present) at a university. Those who have already applied for the award in previous years are NOT eligible.

SCOPE OF THE DISSERTATION: Applicants must submit original work in the area of behavioral health/medicine, which is defined as “the interdisciplinary field concerned with the development and integration of psychosocial, behavioral and biomedical science knowledge and techniques relevant to health and illness and the application of this knowledge and these techniques to prevention, etiology, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation” (International Society of Behavioral Medicine, 2013). Interdisciplinary research that involves either qualitative and/or quantitative approaches that may involve but are not limited to topics on health-related behaviors, mental health, policy research and related topics are welcome. Final decisions on whether a dissertation falls within the scope of behavioral health rests with the executive committee of the society.

REVIEW PROCESS: Upon submission, abstracts will be reviewed by HKSBH executive members. Abstracts will be scored by a set of standard criteria, which has been agreed upon by all executive members. The short-listed abstracts with the highest scores will advance to the second round of review. Full dissertations will be scored by at least 2 internal members with the possibility of external review. The scores that the panel gives will be averaged to determine the best dissertation. If any discrepancies are encountered a third member will be asked to judge. Scores of individual submissions will not be released to any external parties. Decision is final and not subject to appeal.

Submitted dissertations will be judged mainly on their contribution to behavioral health, in addition to originality of work, significance and implications of results, clarity of presentation and quality of writing.

DOCUMENTS:

• 1. A completed application

  2. A 1500-word abstract of the doctoral dissertation in English. The abstract should highlight the research question(s), theoretical framework, methods, results and implications for the field of behavioral health

  3. A full dissertation written in English (acceptable forms of digital copy, DOC, DOCX and PDF)

  4. Copy of university degree or an official letter from the applicant’s university proving that all PhD dissertation requirements have been fulfilled or dissertation supervisor’s signature on the application form certifying all requirements of the PhD dissertation have been fulfilled. Applicants who have not yet obtained an official certificate for his/her PhD degree may still apply given they provide proof of completion of all requirements

GUIDELINES:

• • Abstract: Please submit in a separate file from full dissertation – word format, single-spaced, Times New Roman, 12 font, 1in margins

  • Dissertation: no strict quidelines

TIMELINE for the 2017 award

• • November 1, 2016: All necessary documentation must be submitted online to hksocbh@gmail.com using the subject title “HKSBH Dissertation Award”. Late submissions will not be considered

  • Early 2017: Announcement of results

The HKSBH pledges to ensure that the copyrights of the applicant will not be compromised. The society will not disseminate any part of the dissertation further than to the reviewers who will be requested to sign a confidentiality agreement

1=Very Poor; 2= Poor; 3=Average; 4=Very Good; 5=Excellent