The Team Science Award of Distinction for Early Stage Research Teams recognizes and promotes excellence in developing multi-disciplinary research teams within the Georgia Clinical and Translational Science Alliance (Georgia CTSA). This award will be presented to a developing (i.e., early stage) multi-disciplinary research team that demonstrates great potential for innovative and impactful advances in clinical and translational science.

Award Eligibility

1. Nominated teams should be early stage. For the purposes of this award, early stage teams are teams that have come together within the past 18-24 months to begin an interdisciplinary project with strong potential for innovative and impactful advances in clinical translational sciences.
2. Each research team must have one or more representatives from a Georgia CTSA partner (Emory University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Morehouse School of Medicine, and/or the University of Georgia).
3. Teams must be multi-disciplinary with representation from at least two different disciplines. Teams representing multiple institutions will be prioritized.
4. Research activities must be clinical or translational in nature with the potential to make a positive impact on human health.
5. Teams who have received this award in the past 3 years or have applied to the 2027 Presidents’ Award of Distinction for Team Science are not eligible.
6. Those who have received this award in the past 3 years are not eligible.

Nominations

Teams may self-nominate or be nominated by a faculty member or administrator from a Georgia CTSA partner institution by using this template.

The primary criterion for evaluation will be the team’s ability to demonstrate the potential for innovative, high-functioning teamwork and synergy in the narrative. Teams will be evaluated using the following criteria.  It is not necessary to achieve every criterion, as different teams will have different outcomes.

• Description of high quality, productive teamwork: Shared abstracts, publications or scholarly works at any stage (e.g., submitted, in press, in revision) involving 2 or more team members, shared mentoring responsibilities, shared pilot grant applications, shared resources, etc.)
• Interdisciplinary nature of the work
• Evidence of potential impact on health of individuals or communities (e.g., pilot work on community-based prevention project, community or industry partnerships)
• Evidence of application of team science principles (e.g., Evidence of the development of the scientific team through applying team science principles includes engaging in collaboration planning activities (e.g., creating a team contract/collaboration planning agreement). Additional examples may include dedicating time to developing teamwork skills (e.g., participating in team science workshops, team-building exercises).