The APS Interest Group on Psychology and Ageing invites submissions for the Elsie Harwood Award.

The award was established to recognise the pioneer work of Dr Elsie Harwood in psychological research with older people. The award aims to raise awareness in the field of psychology and ageing and to encourage students to carry out research in this field. The award is for the best empirical research project in the field of ageing, submitted as part of an accredited fourth year program in psychology or an accredited Masters by coursework program in psychology. 

Eligibility

Students, who in the period since the previous award was made, have completed a fourth year theoretical essay or empirical research project or an applied Masters coursework thesis in the field of ageing submitted as part of the requirements of an accredited fourth year program in psychology or a postgraduate program and taking note of items (ii) and (iii) below will be eligible for the award.

(ii) The essay or project must be about ageing but does not necessarily have to involve human participants.

(iii) The work is of a high academic standard.

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Detailed criteria

Details of the award are available from APS National Office:

Submissions and closing date

Submissions should be in the form of a summary of no more than 2000 words of the project. The project must be about ageing, but not necessarily using human subjects, and must be of a high academic standard. Be advised that submissions which exceed the 2000 word limit will not be read.

The submissions should be made electronically and include the name and address of a contact who can confirm the status of the project as part of an accredited program. This would normally be the Head of School or Department or the academic supervisor.

Nominations close 31 October 2011.

Previous winners

2010 

Vincent Chan, University of New South Wales
Age-related differences in social and non-social prospective memory
 Supervisors: Dr Phoebe Bailey and Assoc Prof Julie Henry, assisted by Prof Peter Rendell 
2009 

Alexa Muratore, University of New South Wales  
 Predicting retirement preparation through the design of a new measure
Supervisor: Dr Joanne Earl
2008 

James Peter Thompson, University of Adelaide
The self-regulation of the driving behavior of older drivers: A longitudinal assessment
 Supervisors: Associate Professor Jane Mathias and Dr Matthew Baldock 
2007 

Jennifer Burke, University of Adelaide (co-winner)
Neuropsychological differentiation of Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia: A meta-analysis
Supervisor: Jane Mathias 

Paula Nicolaou, Curtin University (co-winner)
Identifying needs, burden, and distress of carer’s of people with frontotemporal dementia compared to Alzheimer’s Disease 
Supervisors: Dr Sarah Egan, Dr Natalie Gasson and Dr Robert Kane
2006 Christopher Hatherly, Australian National University
Peripheral vision attention in ageing: An evaluation of the Useful Field of View
Supervisor: Kaarin Anstey
2005   Melanie Burkhardt, Murdoch University
The Relationship between Androgens, apolipoprotein E Epsilon 4 Status and Cognitive Functioning in Elderly Men with and without Alzheimer’s Dementia
Supervisor: Jonathan Foster 

2004

Penny Wareham, University of New South Wales
The effects of prose complexity and familiarity on elite young and elite elderly adults’ recall of prose
Supervisor: Peter Birrell

2003

Rhonda Shaw, James Cook University
Age-related decline in verbal, visual and spatial memory
Supervisor: Edward Holmes

2002

Christina Feldman, University of Western Australia
An over-reliance on gist memory and a deficit in verbatim memory: Evidence from false memories
Supervisor: Jonathan Foster

2001

Eyal Gringart, Edith Cowan University
Age Discrimination in Hiring Practices against Older Adults in Western Australia
Supervisor: Edward Helmes

1999

Fiona Kenvyn, University of Ballarat
The Effect of Former Occupation on Suicide Ideation and Suicide Attitudes in Retirees
Supervisor: Lisa Hopes

1997

Carolyn Boyd, Flinders University of South Australia
Predictors of Depression amongst Institutional- and Community-Dwelling Elders: Influence of Behavioural Competence and Perceived Control
Supervisor: Mary Luszcz

1995

Kathryn Collins, Flinders University of South Australia
Elderly Women’s Use of Relativistic Operations in Everyday Problem Solving
Supervisor: Mary Luszcz

1993

Kaarin Anstey, University of Sydney
Primary Ageing, Secondary Ageing and Intelligence
Supervisor: Lazar Stankov

 

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