The Brenner Award is designed to recognize early career researchers in Q methodology on the basis of a completed paper presented at the ISSSS Conference.

The Brenner Award is named for Donald J. Brenner, the first president of International Society for the Scientific Study of Subjectivity, and a student of William Stephenson. Don had a distinguished career at the University of Missouri, Columbia as Professor of Journalism.

The award recognizes the Q-methodology scholarship of an early career researcher, judged on the basis of a complete ISSSS conference paper.

To be eligible for the award, applicants must:

  1. Be a graduate student who is first or sole author of the submitted paper
    or
    be an early career researcher who is first or sole author of the submitted paper. To qualify under this category, the author will have held a doctorate for no more than five years or will have been active as a researcher for no more than five years.
  2. Not be a previous Brenner awardee.
  3. Be an ISSSS member.

To apply for the award, the applicant must:

  1. Have received confirmation that their abstract has been accepted for presentation and must attend the annual conference.
  2. Submit a fully blinded, complete conference paper to the ISSSS advisor by email I4Scommittee@gmail.com by the 30th June following the paper guidelines below:
    • Paper should be no more than 20 pages, size 11 font, including tables and references.
    • A separate cover sheet should include author(s) name, affiliation, email address and an abstract of no more than 300 words.
  3. Submit a short CV and a statement pertaining to eligibility. In the case of co-authored work, the contributions of all authors including the award applicant should be specified.

The criteria and process for the award:

  1. Applications are considered by panel commissioned and chaired by the ISSSS Advisor.
  2. Papers will be assessed according to these criteria for excellence:
    • Presented to a high academic standard.
    • Demonstrates understanding of Q methodology.
    • Contributes, through the interpretation of a study (or equivalent scholarship), to the philosophy, foundations or methodology originated by Stephenson.
    • Indicates the value of the study in a relevant discipline or field.

The ISSSS Committee reserve the right not to make an award in any given year if the criteria above are not met.

The award winner will be presented with their award at the annual conference. The award will be recognized through the presentation of a certificate of achievement and a prize of $400.