The British Ecological Society (BES) announced today the winners of its annual awards and prizes, recognising eleven distinguished ecologists whose work has benefited the scientific community and society in general.
The Founders’ Prize was awarded to Dr Jucker and commemorates the enthusiasm and vision of the Society’s founders. It is awarded to an outstanding early career ecologist who is starting to make a significant contribution to the science of ecology.
Tommaso has been called a rising star in forest ecology, carrying out research on the composition, structure and function of forest ecosystems and examining how these will respond to rapid environmental change and how this in turn will impact society. His goal is to get a more accurate picture of what forests will look like in the future and better understand how they will respond to rapid environmental change, and in turn, how this will impact climate, biodiversity and people.
Tommaso is a NERC Independent Research Fellow and Lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Bristol. He completed his PostDoc and PhD at the University of Cambridge and worked as a Research Scientist at CSIRO in Australia. He recently established a new research group called Selva lab at Bristol, which focuses on bridging the gap between field ecology and remote sensing.
Tommaso said: "This award is a huge honour. The BES annual meeting was the first conference I ever attend and presented my work at. The Journal of Ecology is also where I published the first chapter of my PhD and is the journal that took a chance on me as a young associate editor. So receiving this early career award from the BES really means a lot to me. I am immensely grateful to the many, many wonderful colleagues, mentors and friends I’ve had the good fortune to work with. This prize is as much a testament to their hard work, generosity and kindness as it is to anything I’ve achieved."
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.”
You can find the full list of 2020 BES award and prize winners on the BES' announcement webapge.
The winners will be presented with their prizes during a ceremony held at the Society’s annual conference in December 2021 (there will be a 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.