Who is eligible?
Members of PANDA who have had the oral defense of their PhD thesis during the year preceding the selection are eligible. The thesis may contain work related to other topics/experiments, but the majority of the work in the thesis must be directly connected to PANDA.
How can nominations be made?
The thesis advisor can nominate someone who successfully passed the oral defense during the period from June 1st, year X to May 31st, year X+1 (for the selection that takes place during year X+1).
As a one time exception, the first call will cover the period from June 1st, 2011 to May 31st, 2013. A nomination is made by submitting the following information to the speaker of the collaboration:
1. a nomination letter in which the content of the thesis and the importance of this work for PANDA is described. This should also motivate why that thesis should be considered as the best one of the selection period from PANDA.
2. The thesis must be made available online on the PANDA webpage, and the URL must be included in the nomination. If it is not allowed to upload the thesis to the PANDA website, then a hard copy of the thesis must be submitted.
3. If the thesis is not written in English, then a (couple page) summary must be provided in English.
4. A copy of a certificate showing the grade achieved by the thesis (and a short description of the grade scale). This certificate should indicate the date of the oral exam. If that is not the case, then some other confirmation of when the oral exam was held must be provided (a letter for the thesis advisor will suffice, if a copy of a formal document is delivered before the September meeting.)
The nomination must be made in writing/email before the beginning of the June collaboration meeting.
How is the selection made?
* Chair of the selection committee: By default this is the speaker of PANDA. If someone from the speakers institute has been nominated then the deputy speaker of PANDA is the chair of the selection committee. If someone from the deputy's institute is nominated, then the PANDA exec board will choose the chair of the selection committee.
* selection committee: The chair of the selection committee will identify 4 additional members, and then present the full committee to the Collaboration Board for confirmation. The members of the selection committee are in general members of PANDA, and should represent the broad physics, technical and institutional character of the collaboration. Members of the same institute as a nominee may not serve on the selection committee.
* The selection committee will select typically up to three candidates based on the documents available. This will be done before the end of August. These candidates will be invited to present their work in a special plenary session of the September collaboration meeting. The decision will be based on both the paperwork, and the presentation.
* The selection committee will announce no later than the following day which of the finalists has been selected for the prize.
* The selection committee is solely responsible for the decision and the criteria used for their decision. Their decision is final and there is no recourse to challenge their decision.