DRA is a UK wide academic competition which is awarded annually to junior researchers who are pursuing (or have recently completed) doctoral degrees in the UK. It has been organised annually since 2012.

DRA has been designed to promote and reward academic and scientific excellence among young researchers who will be the world class academics of the future. Indeed, despite being founded less than a decade ago one is already witnessing the emergence of the top ranking scientists from the past winners of DRA who have reached highest quality positions in the academia.

Over the years, thanks to our previous and current supporters DRA has evolved considerably both in scale and quality. This year again we are proud to announce the opening of the call. Indebted to the intellectual support of our organisers and reviewers and financial support of our sponsor (Springer Natural and Applied Sciences) and local donators, yet another wonderful journey awaits ahead which will be concluded at the grand ceremony in May.