SETAC Fellows Award

The SETAC Fellows Award was created in 2010 as a means of recognizing the longer-term and significant scientific and science policy contributions of SETAC members. The identification and appointment of SETAC Fellows is intended to provide additional recognition of excellence and contributions of SETAC members to the sciences embraced by SETAC including ecotoxicology, environmental chemistry, risk assessment and life cycle assessment while allowing more balance in representation. The hallmark of a SETAC Fellow is leadership within the professional and scientific arenas.

The award will consist of a simple parchment as well as a special SETAC Fellow lapel pin.

While there is no upper limit to the number of Fellows, it is estimated that the ultimate number of Fellows would be between 1 and 2% of the membership, thereby increasing the prestige associated with this award.

The group of SETAC Fellows will constitute a body that possesses institutional knowledge of the society and that includes individuals with recognized achievement in science and/or science policy. As such they will serve as a sounding board for the SWC and may be asked to help lead select efforts on behalf of the SWC. The Fellows may also choose to meet at SETAC annual meetings on an ad-hoc basis to share insights and to offer suggestions to the SWC. Finally, the Fellows – or a group thereof - will serve as reviewers of candidates for the Fellow Award.

Nomination Process

Nominations are made in one of three ways:

1. An automated and survey approach is used to insure that all potential candidates are given consideration.
2. Any GU President with support from their Board may nominate individuals who they believe deserve special recognition as a SETAC Fellow. In such cases, some eligibility criteria may be stressed over others based on the material provided by the GU.
3. Any individual who has been put forward as a nominee for the Founder’s Award will automatically become a candidate for consideration as a SETAC Fellow.

Only members of SETAC will be eligible for nomination. This can include past members who may have retired from SETAC. Nominees must have become members of SETAC at least ten years prior to the date they are being considered for eligibility as a SETAC Fellow. GUs that have more recent membership within SETAC may choose to put nominees forward that have less than 10 years membership in SETAC but that are considered outstanding candidates in other respects. All nominees identified in one of the three ways described above become part of a "pool of candidates”. This pool of candidates is carried from year to year. If candidates clearly do not meet the broad criteria established for SETAC Fellows, they may be removed from the list.

All candidates that have achieved or exceeded the criteria under the SETAC Environmental Professional Award and that meet the membership criterion for the automated nomination approach (10 year prior initial membership date) would be invited by SETAC to submit additional information to SETAC for consideration for the SETAC Fellow program.

Nominations made by a GU with support from its Board will address the criteria for a SETAC Fellow as part of the submittal. Nominations for Founder’s Awards generally include the types of information that would be considered for selecting SETAC Fellows and no further information requests would typically be needed.

Selection Process

On an annual basis, the selection of additional SETAC Fellows will be made by the SWC with input from the Awards and Membership Committees based on a review of the "pool of candidates” with respect to several broad criteria. The existing Fellows or a group thereof will assist the committees by reviewing candidates and making recommendations regarding the selection of individuals. SETAC Fellows will be selected in a manner that reflects a proportional balance the tripartite membership of SETAC. The broad criteria used to select SETAC Fellows include:

Professional /Societal leadership with respect to Environmental Science or Environmental Science Policy

The individual will have organized, led or participated as part of leadership for professional and/or societal activities. This could involve chairing an advisory committee, being a member of a board, or organizing and leading any other professional or societal activity, e.g. SETAC workshops, branch meetings, annual meetings, national and international conferences. This criterion shows that the individual is an active participant of one or more societies. These societies must include SETAC, but might also include involvement with any other society that emphasizes a particular environmental science. The nature and degree of activity relative to this criterion will be a factor in judging the selection of a SETAC Fellow.

Science and/or science policy leadership at the national or international levels

The individual must demonstrate that he/she is internationally recognized for their leadership in particular areas of environmental science, including research, regulation and environmental management. This might be through numbers of citations to publications, invited participant on international panels, organization of or participant in specialist workshops, involvement in senior advisory positions in national or international advisory panels (government, industry groups, etc). The individual will have organized and/or participated in a leadership position scientific or science policy work groups and or workshops at a national or international level. Leadership positions could include chairing/leading the effort and or a major component of the effort (e.g., a sub workgroup). Examples include SETAC Pellston Workshops and similar science or government or agency science policy workshops, and national and international science meetings and committees that have been convened to address particular science or science policy topics. The nature and degree of activity relative to this criterion will be a factor in judging the selection of a SETAC Fellow and the more exclusive the membership of the scientific panel the more prestigious the contribution.

Communication of Science and/or Science Policy

Communication involves publications (papers, reports, books) as well as fully-funded invited presentations at international (and national) scientific meetings. The individual will have authored and/or co-authored a number of major publications that have communicated science or science policy. These can include highly cited publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals, major science policy and/or technical documents developed for and/or by government agencies to communicate the science and/or science policy, and major science policy and/or technical documents developed for and/or by industry that are designed to communicate the science and science policy. Only publications that are in the public arena qualify for considerations. Invited presentations to international, national audiences, lectures to industry groups, are key indicators of standing of the individual and his/her contributions in communicating to key stakeholders. The nature, quality and numbers of publications will be factors in judging the selection of a SETAC Fellow. The impact factor of the journals is another consideration when judging this criterion. (Note: project reports or specific assessments (e.g., risk assessments, permit applications, specific fate and transport studies) that are carried out as part of normal business typically would not qualify for consideration.) In short, the record of scientific communication must be designed to reach a broad audience.

Fellows would be announced via newsletter and also named at the annual meeting but parchments would be distributed by mail. A running list of all fellows would be maintained on the SETAC website. SETAC may choose other forms of recognition including presenting profiles of the individuals in a SETAC journal; the profile could include a picture and a brief description of the individual and their contributions. Finally, information would be sent to the Fellow’s employer or institution for local announcement.