Education and Research Awards 2026 |
| Research Paper of the Year |
This award celebrates nominees who have advanced the theory, knowledge and practice of project management through a published academic paper.
To be eligible to enter this category the research paper must have been published (i.e. not online first or early cite) in a peer-reviewed journal in 2025. Blogs will not be accepted. To check a journal is peer reviewed search on the Master Journal List (this is not a definitive list, if you are unsure, please check with awards@apm.org.uk). A research paper can only be entered into this category once. Entrants can be members or non-members of APM, from both in and outside of the UK.
Entries should take the form of a 1,000-word personal statement OR 8-minute video (in English) addressing the criteria below, accompanied by the published research paper in pdf format.
Congratulations to our winner
Winner | Juan Sandoval, Ilias Krystallis, David Whitmore & Martina Huemann , MIGSO-PCUBED, The Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, University College London, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business - Managing strategic relationships in inter-organisational projects
Judges comments
Judges noted that that this high quality and well evidenced research paper makes a significant contribution to both project management theory and practice. The insights generated have practical value, particularly for practitioners involved in managing and sustaining inter organisational relationships, offering guidance that can inform long term collaboration strategies.
This paper makes a significant contribution to project management by advancing the theoretical and practical understanding of strategic relationship management in inter-organisational projects.
Using four major UK infrastructure cases, it operationalises and extends a seven-dimensional framework grounded in Relational Exchange Theory, demonstrating that relational behaviours, rather than transactional mechanisms, drive effective partnering, and by extension lead to project success.
This is the first study to move beyond the traditional focus on trust and contracts, introducing a new dimension of knowledge that provides project professionals with comprehensive, practical guidance to develop, establish, and measure strategic relationships in complex project environments.
Judges Special Mention | Xiangming (Tommy) Tao, Deniz Ucbasaran, University of Sussex Business School, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick - How does failure normalization foster product innovativeness in new product development? The role of passion and learning
Judges comments
Judges were unanimous that this was a high quality, well argued, and methodologically rigorous research paper that makes a meaningful contribution to project management theory and practice. Practically, the paper underscores the critical role of project and product leaders in shaping an organisational climate that not only tolerates product failure but actively promotes reflective learning that leads to additional product innovations.
This paper tackles a critical paradox in modern project management: does normalising project failure actually drive product innovation? Using a rigorous three-wave and multi-source data from 181 new product development projects, we demonstrate that failure normalisation alone does not improve product innovativeness. Instead, innovation gains arise only when project leaders actively learn from project failure – the process we find is not automatic but contingent on their passion for inventing.
By clarifying why failure-tolerant cultures sometimes succeed and sometimes backfire, this research resolves long-standing inconsistencies in literature and provides evidence-based guidance for organisations seeking to convert project setbacks into product innovations.