Jon Rasbash prize for Quantitative Social Science 2016

The Jon Rasbash prize for Quantitative Social Science is awarded biennially for early career achievement in the field of quantitative social science. 
The deadline for submissions for the 2016 award is 10 January 2016. The prize is open to UK residents who are in the first 10 years of their research career.

Full details of the eligibility criteria and application procedure can be found at
 http://www.bristol.ac.uk/cmm/research/rasbash-prize.html

BACKGROUND

The Jon Rasbash prize for Quantitative Social Science is awarded biennially for early career achievement in the field of quantitative social science. The award was established in 2010 to commemorate the contributions to quantitative social science of Jon Rasbash, who was Professor of Computational Statistics and Director of the Centre for Multilevel Modelling at the University of Bristol. Jon was principally known for his development of multilevel methodology and its software implementation and for his research on studying social relationships within families. Through the development of the MLwiN software and teaching at numerous workshops worldwide, he played a major role in the adoption of multilevel modelling as a mainstream statistical technique. 

CRITERIA

The £500 prize recognizes early career achievement in the development and/or application of advanced quantitative methods in any social science discipline. Applicants should be UK residents and in the first 10 years of their research career (including periods of postgraduate study). 

The prize will be awarded on the basis of a research paper published in a peer-reviewed journal in 2014 or 2015. The applicant should be the sole or lead author of the paper.  

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

The deadline for submissions is 10 January 2016. Applicants should submit their paper to info-cmm at bristol.ac.uk, together with a short summary of the paper’s contribution to the development or application of advanced quantitative methods in social research. In the case of co-authored papers, a statement of the applicant’s contribution should also be submitted.

Applications will be assessed by a panel including Professors William Browne, Paul Clarke, Harvey Goldstein, Fiona Steele, and Patrick Sturgis. The prize will be presented at the next Research Methods Festival, which will be held at the University of Bath, 5-7 July 2016.

European Mathematical Psychology Group Meeting 2015 (Padua, italy)

European Mathematical Psychology Group Meeting 2015 Abstract submission is now open!

Call for Papers You are cordially invited to attend the European Mathematical Psychology Group Meeting 2015 (EMPG 2015), held at the University of Padua, Italy, from Tuesday, September 01, 2015 until Thursday, September 03, 2015. Proposals for paper and poster presentations as well as proposals for symposia related to all aspects of mathematical psychology are welcome. Relevant topics include:   perception and psychophysics models of cognition and learning knowledge structures measurement and scaling psychometrics computational methods statistical methods mathematical models ... Invited speakers: Richard Shiffrin Eric-Jan Wagenmakers Invited Symposia: Symposium in memoriam Patrick Suppes

2015 Ranald Macdonald Postgraduate Research Award

Deadline for applications: 15 September 2015

This will be awarded to the best UK Postgraduate thesis/dissertation/project (MSc, MRes, MPhil, Professional Doctorate, DPhil or PhD) using mathematics, statistics or computing in an interesting and/or novel way to investigate an aspect of Psychology. The work and qualification upon which the award is assessed must have been awarded between the 1st of January 2014 and the 31st of December 2014.

The award consists of £150 and expenses up to £200 to attend the section's Annual Scientific Meeting. A condition of accepting the award is the presentation of the winning work at that meeting (scheduled for Saturday 12^th of December 2015) and (in the unusual case that the winner is not a member) to join the Mathematical, Statistical & Computing (MSC) Psychology Section.

Details about eligibility and the (simple) application process can be found below, or by contacting the Section Secretary Dr Gerry Markopoulos.

Please note the deadline for submissions will be the 15^th of September 2015 at 5pm.

How to apply:

Please email the following to the MSC section secretary Dr Gerry Markopoulos, at g.markopoulos at bathspa.ac.uk

1.   Your full contact details including Name, Institution, Degree Title and Date the qualification was awarded, Address, Email, Telephone number and Supervisor Name(s).

2.   The extended abstract from your thesis outlining the findings of your work.

3.   A supporting statement from one of your supervisory team briefly describing the importance and contribution of your thesis work and its suitability for the award (no more than 300 words) and listing any peer-reviewed publications associated with the work.

Procedure

Your application will be considered by a panel of Mathematical, Statistical and Computing Section Committee members, and the panel’s decision will be final. One or more submissions will be short-listed and their authors may be invited to submit the complete thesis to the panel for final consideration via PDF. The panel reserves the right not to short-list any candidates if the panel does not deem the quality of submissions to be sufficiently high. From time to time the panel may also seek the views of expert reviewers on the quality of a submission prior to short-listing or to making an award. The panel may, in exceptional circumstances, make a split award between two equally deserving candidates.

Criteria for making the award:

Emphasis will be placed on the following criteria:

·     use of novel mathematics, statistics or computing

·     reference to substantive issues in psychology or related disciplines

·     clarity of exposition of the mathematical or statistical concepts

·     potential or actual contribution to the field, via peer-reviewed publication

Some previous award winners:

Dr Ron McDowell (An examination of mood and anxiety disorders across the adult lifespan using multiple group methods: the EU-WMH project.)

Dr Colette Corry (Suicide through the lifespan: a cumulative proportional odds model of life stage risk.)

Dr Gareth Hager Johnson (Latent variable modelling of personality-health associations: measures, models and extensions.)