Today’s guest blog is by the British Ecological Society (BES) announced today the winners of its annual awards and prizes. Eleven distinguished ecologists have been recognised where their work has benefited the scientific community and society in general, including RSPB Centre for Conservation Science, Professor Juliet Vickery. Below, BES explains why Juliet was nominated for the award and looks back some of her achievements during her career.
BES Award: Juliet Vickery. The Award is made in recognition of exceptional service to the Society.
Juliet has strong interest in the impact of land use change on bird populations particularly farmland birds in Europe but expanding to an international focus in more recent years. The research by the scientific team that Juliet heads at the RSPB, underpins the work of the organisation in conserving threatened sites, species and habitats throughout the world.
Juliet has been a long-standing supporter of the BES having served both as an Ordinary Member of the BES Board of Trustee and most recently as Chair of the BES Policy Committee. Under her careful stewardship the work and influence of the Society’s policy team has grown considerably.
Could you give us a bit of background on yourself and your research career?
Following a DPhil at Oxford, a post doc at University of East Anglia and a brief spell at Scottish Natural Heritage I took up a lectureship at University of Edinburgh before moving to a long-term career in research in conservation NGOs. I worked for 10 years as Head of Terrestrial Ecology at British Trust for Ornithology where I led a research team focussed on ecology and conservation of farmland birds, then to my current position as Head of International Conservation Science at RSPB where science is directed at underpinning the conservation of threatened species and sites around the world. In November I will move back to the BTO as their new CEO.
The BES Award recognizes exceptional voluntary service to the Society and its community, can you tell us what it means to you to win this award?
I am thrilled to receive this award from an organisation that has been such an important part of my career in terms of support and inspiration. It has been a privilege to work with such an engaged and active committee and with such expert and professional BES staff for so long - a great learning experience for me and huge fun!
Your nominee highlighted your extensive work in your three terms as Chair of the BES Policy Committee. Are there any achievements during this time you’re particularly proud of? And could you talk about the importance of policy work in ecology?
So many highlights in my nine years! If I had to chose, I might pick out three: seeing the Scottish Policy Group flourish and, hopefully, trail-blaze the way for similar groups in Wales and Northern Ireland.
The joint conference with the Cambridge Conservation Initiative “Making a Difference in Conservation” - with a focus on using ecological evidence to inform conservation policy and practice that brought together new speakers and audiences and resulted in an open access proceedings.
The launch of the Policy Fellowship which supports mid career researchers to spend 3-6 months in a Government department such as Defra or (this year) in DAERA Northern Ireland, to gain in-depth first hand experience of how science is used to inform environmental decisions.
Professor Jane Memmott, President of the British Ecological Society, said:
“I am delighted to offer my congratulations to the winners of this year’s BES awards for their exceptional contributions to ecology. Each year these prizes recognise and celebrate the exceptional contributions of individuals to advancing ecology and communicating its importance for society.”
The full list of other 2020 BES award and prize winners is as follows:
Honorary Membership: Mike Begon, University of Liverpool. Sandra Lavorel, CNRS, Landcare Research New Zealand. Michel Loreau, CNRS
Marsh Award for Ecology: Teja Tscharntke, Georg-August-University of Göttingen
Marsh Award for Climate Change Research: Wendy Foden, South African National Parks, IUCN, University of Cape Town, University of Stellenbosch
Marsh Award for Ecologists in Africa: David Odee, Kenyan Forestry Research Institute, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Founders’ Prize: Tommaso Jucker, University of Bristol
Ecological Engagement Award: Helen Roy, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Equality and Diversity Champion: Iain Stott, University of York
The winners will be presented with their prizes during a ceremony held at the Society’s annual conference in December 2021 (due to smaller face-to-face conference in 2020). The meeting will bring together 1,200 ecologists from around 60 countries to discuss the latest advances in ecological research across the whole discipline.
To read more about the awards and the winners, visit the British Ecological Society site.
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