The learning design journey for UTS’s HDR Awards

The Graduate Research School requests Cotton Education Services design a new awards program

In May 2024, the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) requested that Cotton Education Services (CES) design a new awards program.

With no existing awards program for their Higher Degree Research Students in place, the Graduate Research School (GRS) was starting from scratch, seeking a way to recognise the excellence of their students’ research work, as well as build community and a sense of pride among the students in their cohort.

Market analysis

Our learning designers commenced searching for examples of best practice in similar universities around the world. We presented a summary of these findings to UTS, highlighting:

• How awards programs could be used to build skillsets in researchers, including communication (written and, specifically, storytelling) and application writing.

• Community building benefits - how awards ceremonies could be used to create a unique sense of identity for a community, pride in their peers, and a sense of belonging in acknowledgement.

• Processes and best practice in terms of governances and ethics for awards.

• Communication and advertising campaigns that effectively engaged students, and told the stories of their research.

Consulting with subject matter experts

Our learning designers consulted with subject matter experts regarding what Open Research (the first topic theme) was and how it could be assessed. Following this, our team built the infrastructure that would support the event including:

• terms and conditions that comply with NSW and Australian law

• entrant information packs and checklists

• a Sharepoint as a hub for information, events and collateral to do with the awards

• a submission form and process for collating entries, powered by Qualtrics

• an assessment process

Assessment processes

Our learning designers supported the behind the scenes collation of entries and presentation in a workable format to the judging panel. They organised and facilitated the events that allowed the judges to meet, as well as the communication processes between them and the GRS.

Building belonging and ownership of the awards

Central to the design of these awards was the need to build community among the HDR students. As part of the design, our learning designers worked with representatives of the HDR cohort to find judges from within their community, including the chief judge who would lead the assessment process.

We worked with the students to build a word of mouth campaign among their networks and social media outlets.

We also linked up with another long-established competition being held by UTS Library. The Three Minute Thesis (3MT) asked students to present their research in a storytelling competition, the finals event being held in September. In order to maximise HDR community and participation, our learning designers worked with UTS Library to bring the two events together.

Presentation ceremony

Our learning designers supported the HDR award ceremony with:

• graphic design and printing of certificates

• summaries of winning entries for MC to communicate to the audience

• ensuring recipients, or their representatives, were given hospitality and helpful information about ceremony procedures

• photography

• social media related to the event

2025 awards

In 2025, CES was invited back to design and manage the HDR awards for a second year in a row, this time with the theme of Research Impact.