Robert Chambers Award 2023

To celebrate the contribution of Professor Robert Chambers to innovation and research for empowerment and sustainable development in the field of development studies, DSA Ireland has established the Robert Chambers Award. The award with a value of €300 will be given to the most innovative paper that has the potential to make a significant contribution to strengthening just and sustainable development.

Criteria & Guidelines

Submissions should be between 5,000 -10,000 words including references in consistent format in a given style (e.g. Harvard). Submissions will be judged using the following criteria:

  • Theoretical Innovation (40) 
  • Quality of Writing and Research (40)
  • Potential impact on Poverty reduction (20)

General Terms and Conditions Eligibility

Authors who wish their papers to be considered for the award must submit their full paper by the extended deadline of 12noon on Friday 26th January 2024 to admin@dsaireland.org. Please put 'Robert Chambers Award' in the email subject field. Please title the attachment 'Robert Chambers Award'.

  • The award is open to all members of DSAI;
  • All papers will be subject to a blind review process, author(s)' details should be submitted separately in the body of the email;
  • A Robert Chambers Award entry can be a paper or book chapter that has been published in peer reviewed journals in the last 12months however, we only accept submission from the first author.

Award

  • The judges must explicitly state how the winning paper meets the criteria of the Robert Chambers Award in spirit and content;
  • The judges reserve the right not to award the prize, where they unanimously agree that no paper meets the criteria;
  • The judges' decision is final;
  • Authors should not make contact with judges in relation to the paper before the prize is awarded. If influence is exerted, the paper will be deemed ineligible for the award.

Judging Panel

  • Judges are not permitted to submit a paper to be considered for the award;
  • Papers will be subjected to a triple blind review process;
  • The panel shall consist of three senior academics with practitioner input.

For an overview of the work of Professor Robert Chambers visit: http://www.ids.ac.uk/person/robertchambers