Available Awards & Grants

The Research awards are annual awards announced at the ASM in May of each year.

Applications open early in the new year with a mail drop announcement and all relevant information about the criteria and process for applications are posted on this webpage.

Applications typically open in February and close at the end of March each year

Financial membership of at least 12 months is a pre-requisite.

Intention:

Registered Nurse Prescribing development grants are a limited source of money set aside to provide financial support to Registered Nurses who wish to undertake additional training to become Registered Nurse Prescribers in Specialist and Primary Care Teams and Registered Nurses who wish to undertake additional training to pursue a Nurse Practitioner pathway. 

There is also a limited financial resource available to support Registered Nurse Prescribers and Nurse Practitioners to attend the Prescribing in Diabetes & Related Conditions meeting.

Eligibility criteria

•       Registered Nurses who have a focus in diabetes care
•        Nurse Practitioners who have a focus in providing diabetes
•       Current financial member of NZSSD for a minimum of one year

Any member can nominate a candidate. The nomination needs a sponsor within the Executive. Members of the executive are happy to be contacted with your recommended nominee's name.

This lectureship is to recognise an individual's leadership and outstanding contributions to the advancement of knowledge and/or clinical practice in the field of diabetes mellitus and related metabolic diseases in New Zealand.

The recipient will deliver the Dr Bob Smith Lecture at the NZSSD Annual General Meeting.

The next nominations for this lectureship will open in November 2026.

History

This lectureship is awarded in the name of Dr Robert Bernard William Smith, MB ChB (NZ), MRACP, FRACP, who was born in Auckland in 1936 and educated in Palmerston North before attending Medical School at the University of Otago. His training continued at Palmerston North, Wellington and Canberra, Australia. After completing physician training he worked in the British Solomon Islands then Wellington. After further specialist training in diabetes in London in 1975 he returned to Wellington where he spent the rest of his career until retiring in 2002. From 1976 to 2002 he was Physician-in-Charge of the Diabetic Services at Wellington Hospital. He is universally respected and fondly remembered by people living with diabetes and staff, and is responsible for educating and inspiring a whole generation of diabetes clinicians across multiple disciplines as they came through the Wellington diabetes service. He is particularly remembered for his inclusive approach to multidisciplinary care of people with diabetes.

Dr Smith was one of the founding members of NZSSD in 1976 and served on the executive on more than one occasion including as the first secretary and then president in 1981 and 1982. Dr Smith was also responsible for the production of the society newsletter "NewSweet" for many years including the very first edition in 1977. He always attended and contributed to the annual scientific meeting unless clinical responsibilities precluded this. Dr Smith was made a life member of the society in 1995.

Recipients of the award have been:

2016 - Dr Paul Drury
2018 - Dr Tim Cundy
2021 - Dr Helen Lunt
2025 - Dr Brandon Orr-Walker
2026 - Prof Rinki Murphy