Gerry Murphy Prize

Applications for 2024 closed 15 September 2023.

The Gerry Murphy Prize is awarded annually to the best oral presentation by an Advanced Trainee of the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine (AFPHM).

Trainees across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand have the opportunity to present on public health issues at competitions hosted by the AFPHM Regional Committees.

Selected finalists from these events will represent their region and compete for the overall Gerry Murphy Prize at the 2024 RACP Congress.

The Prize is made possible through a generous bequest by the late Dr Gerry Murphy FAFPHM.

Gerry Murphy Prize 2025

New Guidelines for Presentations Pertaining to Indigenous Health Topics

Any trainee presenting at the Gerry Murphy Prize about Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, Māori, Pasifika, and/or other members of Indigenous or tribal communities globally, or presenting on another Indigenous health and wellbeing issue, must ensure that:

they have clearly designated this in their abstract and acknowledge this during the presentation
acknowledge co-first authorship of the abstract and joint research leadership
provide an additional 50-word paragraph at the end of their abstract for consideration for the Gerry Murphy Prize, which outlines how Indigenous data sovereignty, relevant community engagement and co-design and/or how Te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations have been taken into account

Please note:

Presentations on Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, Māori, Pasifika, and/or other members of Indigenous or tribal communities globally are encouraged to be co-presented with an Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, Māori, Pasifika, and/or other members of Indigenous or tribal communities globally. Where co-presented, the following will apply:

trainees will only be marked on the section of the presentation presented by the trainee
the time limit will apply only to the section of the presentation presented by the trainee

Any abstract that the AFPHM Council considers to be about Indigenous health and wellbeing that has not been clearly designated as such will be rejected from Gerry Murphy Prize consideration without further correspondence.

Eligibility

You must be a trainee currently enrolled in the Advanced Training in Public Health Medicine Program.

Past Gerry Murphy Prize winners and regional finalists are eligible to apply again.

Prize

Finalists will be selected to represent their region and compete for the overall Gerry Murphy Prize at the 2024 RACP Congress. They will receive:

full trainee RACP Congress registration
return economy domestic or trans-Tasman airfares for travel to and from their home town to the Congress city
a ticket to the Faculty Dinner

The Gerry Murphy Prize winner receives:

a certificate signed by the AFPHM President
copies of The People's Health – Volume 1: Public Health in Australia 1788 – 1950 and Volume 2: Public Health in Australia 1950 – Present, by Dr Milton Lewis FAFPHM

Submissions

Read the terms and conditions before applying.

Applications must be submitted to Foundation@racp.edu.au, including:

completed application form
abstract, following the Gerry Murphy Prize Abstract Guidelines

The College Conflicts of Interest Policy (PDF) and Privacy Policy apply.

Download application form (DOC)

Selection process

Regional competitions

The Gerry Murphy Prize regional competitions will be held between late October and early December.

All trainees will have 10 minutes maximum for their presentation and a further 3 to 5 minutes for questions.

Judging

The regional competition judging panels consist of at least 3 AFPHM Fellows.
The judging criteria will consider:
- the AFPHM Oral Presentation Assessment criteria, which forms part of the Advanced Training in Public Health Medicine program
- the extent that a trainee covers background, objectives, methodology, results and implications
- additional criteria relating to quality of project and importance of finding
A finalist is announced at the end of each regional competition.
All finalists will be contacted by the RACP Foundation and provided details about the competition final.

Note: Trainees may choose to submit the judgement outcome as part of their overall assessment. They must select this option on the application form or advise the AFPHM Executive Officer of this choice prior to the competition.

It's the responsibility of the trainee to lodge the assessment.

All AFPHM Regional Committees reserve the right not to nominate a regional finalist if all submissions or presentations fail to meet a sufficiently high standard.

Final competition

The final competition judging panel consists of at least 3 AFPHM Fellows. A winner is announced at the end of the competition.

The final competition will be held at the 2024 RACP Congress.

For information on Gerry Murphy Prize regional competition events, contact the AFPHM.

Contact the RACP Foundation for all other enquiries about the Gerry Murphy Prize and the final competition.

RACP Foundation