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Honours, Awards and Prizes |
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Honours, awards and prizes
Honorary Membership of the Society
Honorary membership of the BES is the highest honour that the Society gives. The primary criterion for honorary membership is a lifetime's achievement in the science of ecology or its application. Other criteria, such as service to the BES, may be brought into play but would not normally merit the award without at least a very strong scientific record. The number of Honorary Members at anyone time is limited to approximately 1% of the total membership of the Society. The Society's Council is responsible for nominating and awarding honorary membership but BES members are welcome to put forward suggestions. Click here for a current list of Honorary Members.
Council considers honorary membership on an annual basis. Nominations must be received by 1 December in any given year and should be sent to the Grants Officer at the BES office in London. Suggestions should be by nomination form and should contain information such as research interests, their contribution to the science of ecology, their status within the biological community and key publications. It should also contain a clear statement on why the potential candidate deserves Honorary Membership of the Society.
Nominators must be a current BES members.
The President's Medal
The Society's President awards this prestigious honour at the end of each term of office (every two years). This prize was established in 1987 and is the personal gift of the President. Recipients include Professor JH Lawton, Professor I Newton, Professor CM Herrera, Professor MP Hassell, Dr JP Croxall, Professor AH Fitter, Professor MC Press and Professor Georgina Mace.
The BES Award
The BES Award is made in recognition of exceptional service to the Society. This award was set up by Council in December 2002.
Council considers the BES Award on an annual basis. Suggestions must be received by 1 December in any given year and should be sent to the Grants Officer at the BES office in London. Suggestions should be by nomination form and should contain information such as their contribution to the development of the BES, their research interests, their status within the biological community and key publications. It should also contain a clear statement on why the potential candidate deserves the BES Award.
Nominators must be a current BES members.
Recipients include: Professor Valerie Brown, Dr David Slingsby, Professor Peter J Grubb, Professor John Lee, Professor Arthur Willis, Professor JohnWhittaker and Professor John Grace.
The Marsh Award for Ecology
The Marsh Award for Ecology is normally awarded annually. It is supported by the Marsh Christian Trust and administered by the British Ecological Society. It is awarded for an outstanding recent discovery or development which has had a significant impact on the development of the science of ecology or its application. The Award is an honorarium of £1,000 plus a certificate and is open to ecologists from anywhere in the world. The award is given at the BES Annual Meeting and recipients include Dr Phil Ineson, Professor JH Lawton, Professor P Grime, Professor T Clutton-Brock, Professor W Sutherland, Professor J Brown, Professor S Hubbell and Professor Christian Koerner.
Nominations for the Award should be made on the nomination form and should contain information such as research interests, their contribution to the science of ecology and/or its application, their status within the biological community and key publications. It should also contain a clear statement on why the nominee deserves the award. The nomination should be accompanied by curriculum vitae of the nominee.
Nominators must be a current BES members.
Please note that nomiations are currently closed.
The Marsh Book of the Year Award
Books can have a major impact in ecology but academic publishing of books brings relatively little financial reward to authors. This award aims to recognise the contribution authors make to the science of ecology.
The Marsh Book of the Year Award acknowledges the important role that books have in ecology and its development. This prize is funded by the Marsh Christian Trust. It is awarded to the book published in the last two years that has had the greatest influence on the science of ecology or its application. The prize is an honorarium of £1,000 plus a certificate and is open to books published anywhere in the world. The BES normally considers The Marsh Book of the Year Award on an annual basis.
The winners to date are:
2005 - Professor Peter M. Vitousek, for his book "Nutrient Cycling and Limitation: Hawai'i as a Model System"
2006 - Professor Richard Bardgett for his book "The Biology of Soils - A Community and Ecosystem Approach"
2007 - Dr David Wilkinson for his book "Fundamental Processes in Ecology: An Earth System Approach"
Nominations for the Award should be made on the nomination form and should contain the title, authors, publishers and date of publication along with a clear statement on why the book deserves the award. Publishers can not submit nominations for this award.
Publishing companies are not eligible to submit nominations for this award. Nominators must be a current BES members.
Please note that nomiations are currently closed.
The Tansley Lecture and the BES Lecture
An eminent ecologist is chosen by Council every two years to address the Society at the Tansley Lecture during the Annual Meeting. Those who are invited to speak may pick any ecological subject and may publish their paper in one of the Society's journals. A full list of Tansley Lectures, with references, is available. The Tansley Lecture alternates with the President's Lecture which is given at the Annual Meeting by the Society's President at the end of their first year of office.
The BES Lecture
The BES Lecture is intended as a platform for eminent non-ecologists to address the Society on a topic that influences ecology and sets it in a wider context. Council chooses a speaker each year to give the lecture at the Annual Meeting and the speaker may publish their paper in the Journal of Applied Ecology.
The Founders' Prize
The Founders' Prize, commemorating the enthusiasm and vision of the Society's founders, is awarded an outstanding ecologist, early in her/his career (normally expected to be in their 30s) who is making a significant contribution towards the science of ecology. The Prize complements those given to students at the beginning of their career (Best Young Author, Anne Keymer and Poster Prizes) and those given to senior ecologists (President's Medal and the Marsh Award for Ecology). The award will normally be biennial, held in alternate years to the President's Medal. The Prize is an honorarium of £500 and certificate and was first awarded at the Society's Winter Meeting in December 1997. Winners include Dr Andrew Beckerman, Dr M Rees, Dr W Cresswell, Dr H Kokko, Dr R Freckleton, Dr A Hester and Dr O Phillips.
Council welcomes suggestions for the Founders' Prize from members of the Society. Suggestions should be by nomination form and be from a proposer and seconder, giving a brief statement of the achievements that the individual has made to ecology plus their future potential. The next deadline for suggestions is the 1st of December 2007 and should be submitted using the nomination form to the Grants Officer at the BES office. Nominators must be a current BES members.
Award for the Best Paper by a Young Author
The BES awards an annual prize of £250 for the best paper by a young author in each of the Society's journals. Winners also receive a free one-year BES membership and subscription to the journal in which their paper appears. The prizes are targeted at people at the start of their research career, with the normal age for eligibility being 30 or under. Papers stemming from doctoral theses are welcomed.
Authors wishing to be considered for an award should be the first-named or sole author of the paper. Details of the application procedure are included in each of the journals. The awards are named after an eminent ecologist whose research reflects the interests of the journal. The Harper Prize is given for a paper in the Journal of Ecology, the Elton Prize in the Journal of Animal Ecology, the Southwood Prize in the Journal of Applied Ecology and the Haldane Prize in Functional Ecology. The journal editors decide the winner.
The 2007 Award winners are:
Sylvain Pincebourde - Elton Young Investigators Prize for 'Regional climatic conditions modulate the within-tree mosaic of favourable and risky microclimates for insects.' which was published in Volume 76, Issue 3, pages 424-438 of the Journal of Animal Ecology.
Rajenda Whitlock - The Journal of Ecology John Harper Young Investigators Prize. For a paper published in the Journal of Ecology September issue (V95 – I5 – pp. 895-907).
Jonathan Pauli - Southwood prize for the paper Risk-disturbance overrides density dependence in a hunted colonial rodent, the black-tailed prairie dog Cynomys ludovicianus . Jonathan N. Pauli, Steven W. Buskirk (2007). Journal of Applied Ecology 44 (6), 1219–1230.
Edward Ayres - 'The influence of below-ground herbivory and defoliation of a legume on nitrogen transfer to neighbouring plants'. E.Ayres, K.M. Dromph, R.Cook, N.Ostle & R.D. Bardgett, Functional Ecology 21 (2), pages 256-263
The Anne Keymer Prize
The prize is named in the memory of Anne Keymer for the best oral presentation by a postgraduate student at the Annual Meeting. Anne herself was one of the first winners of this previously unnamed prize, in 1981. She went on to a career of great distinction, before dying of cancer early in 1993, at the age of 36. Anne was a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Animal Ecology, and more generally was an exemplary scholar, teacher and citizen of her discipline. In naming this prize after Anne Keymer, the BES is recognising a younger ecologist who embodied, to a remarkable degree, the qualities and values we stand for.
Those eligible to enter must present a paper at the BES Annual Meeting and should normally be a current graduate student, or one who has recently graduated and is presenting work that was completed when they were still a student. Competition for the prize is fierce. A panel of judges chooses the winner and the prize is an honorarium of £250. There are two runner up prizes of £100 each. Details of the criteria used to judge the prize are available.
Prize for the Best Poster at the Annual Meeting
The Society awards a prize for the best poster by a research student at the Annual Meeting. Those eligible to enter must present a poster at the BES Annual Meeting and should normally be a current graduate student, or one who has recently graduated and is presenting work that was completed when they were still a student. The entrant must be the first author of the poster and have undertaken the majority of the work being presented. A panel of judges chooses the winner and the prize is an honorarium of £250. There are normally two runner up prizes of £100. Details of the criteria used to judge the prize are available.
2008 Award winner:
Scott Mckenzie - S.W.McKenzie, R.J.Thomas and T.H.Jones: Climate change effects on Northern Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe) - tipulid synchrony
2008 Runner up prize winners:
Deborah Renz - D.R.Renz & P.Stoll: Should I stay or should I go? Seed dispersal distance and plant population dynamics.
Katy Clark - K.E.Clark, S.E.Hartley, J.Koricheva & S.N.Johnson: Oviposition behaviour of the vine weevil (Otiorhynchus sulcatus) in relation to different raspberry (Rubus spp.) cultivars.
Jane DeGabriel - J.L.DeGabriel, B.D.Moore, I.R.Lawler, C.N.Johnson & W.J.Foley: The effects of climate change on nutrient availability in Eucalyptus and the implications for marsupial populations.
Prize for the Best Poster at a Symposium Meeting
The Society awards a prize for the best poster by a research student at its Symposia meetings. Those eligible to enter must present a poster at the Symposium and should normally be a current graduate student, or one who has recently graduated and is presenting work that was completed when they were still a student. The entrant must be the first author of the poster and have undertaken the majority of the work being presented. A panel of judges chooses the winner and the prize is an honorarium of £100. Details of the criteria used to judge the prize are available.
Ecological Engagement Award
The Ecological Engagement Award is an annual award to recognise an exceptional contribution to facilitating the use and understanding of ecology. The Award is an honorarium of £1,000 plus a certificate. The award is given annually at the BES Annual Meeting.
Nomination forms must be received by the BES Grants Officer by 1 December. Nominations must be no longer than two sides of A4 and should contain information about how the person has contributed to the use and understanding of ecology. It should also contain a clear statement on why the nominee deserves the award. Nominators must be a current BES members.
Winners to date include: Dr Tim Sparks and Professor P Chris Reid.
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