Invitation to nominate candidates from developing countries

To apply to the 2009 Award, please use:

Nomination form (PDF format)

Award leaflet (PDF format)

In its effort to promote research in the field of efficient, balanced and environment-friendly fertilization, the International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA) grants every year the IFA International Crop Nutrition Award for research that has led to significant advances in crop nutrition and that has been communicated successfully to the farmer in the form of practical recommendations.

Any individual researcher involved in crop or soil science is eligible. Applications must be submitted to an IFA member by 15 January 2009, and nominations by IFA members must be forwarded to the IFA Secretariat by 31 January 2009. The candidates will be judged by an independent selection panel on the basis of research quality, originality and practical application. The recipient of the Award will receive € 10,000 (ten thousand Euros) and will be invited as a guest to the IFA Annual Conference in Shanghai, China, from 25 to 27 May 2009. The recipient will also be sponsored to participate in one international conference during the same year. The Award alternates each year between scientists based in developing countries (odd years) and researchers from international agricultural research and development centres (IARDCs) and developed countries (even years).

Achim Dobermann received the 2008 Award during the 76th IFA Annual Conference in Vienna, in May 2008

The 2009 Award is for scientists from developing countries.

L.M. Maene
Director General, IFA

Eligibility

Award eligibility alternates between scientists based in developing countries in odd years, and researchers from international agricultural research and development centres and developed countries in intervening years.

For the 2009 Award, it is the turn of the developing countries, as classified by IFA ( See the classification ).

The Award is offered to individuals for their research efforts.

Qualifying work should reflect the level of senior crop or soil scientists from the public or private sector, from the fertilizer industry or from a research institute or educa-tional establishment.

Judging

The candidates are judged on the basis of research quality, originality and practical application. Preference is given to research leading to improvements in fertilizer use
efficiency, environmental sustainability, food quality and human health.

An independent panel, comprising established international scientists, will select the laureate. The IFA Secretariat reserves the right to make a preliminary selection.

The Award Recipient will be known during the second half of March 2009.

Application Procedure

Candidates must be nominated by an IFA member.

Applications must be submitted to an IFA member by 15 January 2009, and nominations by members must be forwarded to the IFA Secretariat by 31 January 2009.
Applications sent directly to the IFA Secretariat will not be accepted.

Applications will only be considered if they follow the format of the nomination form and are complete. Entries that are incomplete, exceed the maximum number of words or are not accompanied by a letter of introduction from a single IFA member in good standing will be automatically disqualified.

The duly completed nomination form should not exceed a total number of 2,500 words for the qualification statements.

Applicants must also provide an abstract of the six selected papers listed in their application form.

Applications must be submitted in English and in electronic format (by e-mail or on cd-rom).

Publications and lists of publications, additional letters and any other material will not be considered by the selection panel.