SGS Research Showcase

The Research Showcase is an annual competition, exhibition, and celebration of doctoral research, brought to you by the School of Graduate Studies. It takes place at City Campus from Tuesday 20 October to Thursday 22 October.

All doctoral candidates at the University of Auckland are invited to enter an academic poster and/or research image in the Research Showcase. This is a great opportunity for you to enhance your research communication skills, get your research noticed, broaden its impact, and grow your networks.

Prizes are awarded for the winner, runner-up and people's choice in each category, with spot prizes for creative design, research impact statement, engaging interactive session, and outstanding entry by a provisional candidate.

Entries close on Sunday 20 September.

Academic Poster terms and conditions

1. Entry is open to currently enrolled doctoral candidates.
2. Only one entry per person per category is allowed.
3. To enter, complete the online entry form by the deadline provided.
4. Candidates who have successfully submitted entries will be notified, after which they must submit a hard copy of their poster (A1 size) for display.
5. Entrants are responsible for their printing costs and can use their PReSS accounts for this purpose.
6. All entrants must ensure that they are the original first author of the poster.
7. The judgesʼ decision is final.
8. Electronic posters will be displayed online on Figshare.
9. All entrants are expected to be present at the Interactive Exhibition and Prizegiving.
10. The School of Graduate Studies reserves the right to review the poster and ask the entrant to modify it to ensure it meets the standards of the University of Aucklandʼs health and safety, research ethics, and equity policies, or to preserve the researchersʼ intellectual property rights.
11. No feedback will be provided during the Final, but feedback may be requested from the organisers after the event.
12. The decision of the adjudicating panel is final.

Academic Poster judging criteria

The key is to strike a balance between academic content and presentation of the work to a broad audience. The judging criteria covers academic content, design, and appeal to a broad audience:

• Context / Background: How well does the poster explain the background, context and aims/objectives of the research? How effectively does the entrant explain the importance of the research?
• Critical Engagement: Is there a critical engagement with literature/other research in the field?
• Methods: How effectively does the methodology emerge from the poster?
• Conclusions: How effectively are the conclusions of the research discussed? How well does the poster explain the research outcomes expected?
• Presentation: Is the poster well structured, and is its message conveyed in a coherent and competent manner? Does the poster catch – and keep – the viewer's attention?
• Creativity: How innovative, creative and effective is the poster?
• Comprehension: How well are the main concepts explained to a broad audience?
• Appeal: How effectively does the poster provoke thoughtful insight and/or questions for viewers?
• Language: How well does the entrant use language to appeal to a broad audience? Are technical terms understandable and accessible to a general audience?
• Impact: How well does the poster explain the potential benefit of the research beyond academia?

Research Image terms and conditions

1. Entry is open to currently enrolled doctoral candidates.
2. Only one entry per person per category is allowed.
3. To enter, complete the online entry form by the deadline provided.
4. Shortlisted candidates will be notified.
5. The School of Graduate Studies will print all shortlisted images in A2 format.
6. The image must not have been published elsewhere, nor entered into any other competitions.
7. Entrants must declare that consent has been given by any person featured in an image.
8. For the Own Creation category, entrants must be the sole creator and copyright holder of all submitted images; they must have personally created the image using their own skills, equipment, and creative input; and the image must not have been generated, enhanced, or substantially modified using artificial intelligence tools.
9. For the AI-Generated Image category, entrants may use AI image generation tools but must do so in accordance with the principles described in the Generative Artificial Intelligence in Doctoral Research Guidelines; disclose which AI tools were used in their submission; and confirm that any prompts, additional elements, or modifications they contributed are their original work.
10. The judgesʼ decision is final.
11. Images will be displayed online on Figshare.
12. All entrants are expected to be present at the Interactive Exhibition and Prizegiving.
13. The School of Graduate Studies reserves the right to review the image and ask entrants to modify it to ensure it meets the standards of the University of Aucklandʼs health and safety, research ethics, and equity policies, or to preserve the researchersʼ intellectual property rights.
14. If there are fewer than five entries in the Research Image category, the People's Choice voting will not be opened. 

Research Image judging criteria

• Visual Impact: composition, colour/lighting, presentation
• Emotional Impact: originality, distinctiveness, and "wow factor"
• Representation of Research: how well the image communicates a story and relates to the research it represents