AIFST - Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology

This Award is made for achievements in food science and technology in the wide areas of research, industry and education and contributions to further the aims and objectives of the Institute.

2012 Closing date: 17 March 2012

Nominations of corporate members (Fellows and Professional Members) by corporate members, not exceeding 1000 words, with bibliography if applicable, and including the nominee’s acceptance should be forwarded for the attention of the President.

Download Keith Farrer Award of Merit - Nomination Form (coming soon) or contact National Office for nomination form.

Full Conditions for the Keith Farrer Award of Merit

1. The Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology Keith Farrer Award of Merit shall acknowledge achievements within food science and technology in the wide areas of research, industry and education, and may take cognisance of contributions made to further the aims and objectives of the Institute.
   The Award is named after Dr Keith Farrer, an outstanding food scientist and author, who was involved in the formation of the AIFST in 1967.
2. The Award shall generally be made annually at the discretion of Council.
3. The Award shall be presented to the person elected by an Award Jury appointed by the President of the Institute, as requested by Council.
4. The Award shall be a mounted plaque of the Institute emblem encircled by the title Award of Merit and suitably inscribed with the name of the awardee and the year of the Award.
5. Council shall call for nominations for the Award of Merit in the Official Journal of the Institute at a time not later than six (6) months prior to the date of presentation, a brief summary of the Award conditions and an address for return nominations.
6. Nomination forms are available via the AIFST website.  Any Corporate member of the Institute may be nominated by a Corporate Member of the Institute, but the nominee must indicate his acceptance of the nomination by signing the nomination form, or providing a signed letter stating that they accept the nomination.  The Award of Merit Nomination Form is to be completed by the nominator, providing adequate supporting documentation, not exceeding 1000 words, and a bibliography, if applicable, not exceeding 250 words. All documentation shall be submitted by the nominator via electronic mail or via post to the attention of The President (as per instructions on AIFST website).  No late nominations will be accepted.
7. Immediately after the close of nominations the President shall invite five Fellows of the Institute to act as the Award Jury.  The members of such Jury shall adequately represent the various Branches, and shall not be close professional or personal associates of the nominee.  A minimum of four (4) jurors shall come from different Branches.  In addition, the President shall act as a Convener or shall appoint a Convener of the Award Jury. The Convener shall have no primary voting rights and only in the case of equality of points obtained by nominees shall he have a casting vote.
8. Should a jury member withdraw at any stage, or be deemed to have a conflict of interest due to association with a nominee or nominees, the President shall appoint a substitute juror.
9. The President shall notify the Convener, if any, and jurors of their appointments, and within fourteen (14) days after the closing date shall forward to them copies of the nominations and supporting documents together with clearly defined instructions for registering their decisions, using the points system set out in Sub-clauses(i)-(iv).Each juror shall be given the name and contact details of the Convener and the date by which the selection must be returned to the Convener.
   1. Each juror shall have a maximum number of points for distribution among the nominees which shall be equal to four times the number of nominations, ie four points per nomination.
   2. A juror shall not be obliged to distribute all the points available to him, but he shall not allot to any one candidate more than half the total of points available to him for distribution.  It shall be permissible to allot zero points to one or more candidates.  Whole points only shall be used in all scoring.
   3. When forwarding his distribution of points to the Convener, each juror shall attach a statement of a least twenty five (25) words on any candidate to whom he has allotted more than one-third of the total number of points available to him for distribution.
   4. Each candidate who was allotted half or more of the number of points received by the winner shall be invited to accept nomination for the next Award of Merit.
10. The Convener shall receive and record the points allotted by each juror to each nominee, and the nominee obtaining the greatest number of points shall be the recipient of the Award, provided that NO award shall be made if none of the candidates receives at least half of the number of points available to all jurors for one candidate.
11. Not later than five weeks after posting the nominations and supporting documents to jurors and Convener, the Convener, if any, shall convey the result to the President, who shall arrange that the recipient of the Award is informed forthwith.
12. The winner of the Award shall deliver an Award Address at the Annual General Meeting, or within the framework of a Convention, or at such time as decided by Council.  The subject of the address shall be the speaker's own choice, but generally relevant to the achievements for which the award is made, and the duration of the address shall be approximately forty (40) minutes.
13. In the event of the death of the Awardee before the time of presentation of the Award, the Award shall be presented posthumously and the address shall take such form as is decided by Council.