Student Support & Awards

Student assistance to attend ASBS conferences

Student assistance is available for most conferences of which the Australasian Systematic Botany Society is a sponsor. The amount available for student assistance is generally based on the early-bird student registration for the conference. Assistance will only be paid to student members of the Society who present either a talk or poster at the conference.

If you wish to apply for student assistance to attend an ASBS conference please download and complete an application form (Word document) and submit it to the Secretary at least 4 weeks prior to the conference.

Note: if you are seeking assistance to attend the Society's 2022 Student & Early Career Researcher conference in person, please don’t use the above form. Instead, please apply for a Postgraduate Student Travel Grant (see details below).

Postgraduate Student Travel Grants

These grants are administered by ASBS and supported by the Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS). They are intended to help to build Australia's research capacity for taxonomy and systematics by supporting postgraduate students.

Scope

The grants can fund:

• expenses associated with student attendance at in-person or online conferences or workshops, in Australia or overseas, relevant to the systematics and taxonomy of plants, algae or fungi
• visits to research institutions in Australia or overseas that that will enhance student training in systematic botany or establish links with relevant experts;
• research fieldwork associated with systematic botany.

Funding can include economy travel (by air, road or rail), accommodation, registration or other conference fees.

Value

Up to AU$1500 for international travel and AU$800 for domestic travel. The total value will be based on actual expenses paid, substantiated by receipts or institutional invoices. Travel to Australia will be considered international travel for students from New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

Eligibility

These grants will be open to financial student members of ASBS who are enrolled in Masters or Ph.D. programs at a university in Australia, New Zealand or Papua New Guinea at the time of the relevant travel. Students must have the support of their primary research supervisor. A maximum of one grant per student will be awarded during the period of this program (July 2022 to November 2023). Grants will not be awarded where a student has previously obtained other grants (e.g., university or Society for Australian Systematic Biology travel grants) for the same expenses, but obtaining multiple grants covering different expenses for the same trip is acceptable and encouraged.

Application deadlines

Applications close at midnight on 23 September 2022 for travel in the period 1 June 2022 (can include retrospective application) to 30 November 2023.

The application form is available for download via Google Docs.

The portal for submitting applications is available at: https://forms.gle/EMBf4RABV4dGiH4Q6

Opportunities

Some options for students are also posted on our 'Jobs & Opportunities' web page, check it out.

Pauline Ladiges Prize

The Pauline Ladiges Prize is awarded to the best oral presentation by a student at an ASBS conference. The prize is sponsored by CSIRO.

The Inaugural award was given in 2008.

The award is named in honour of Professor Pauline Yvonne Ladiges AO FAA in acknowledgement of her dedication to teaching, students and systematics. Pauline is a Professorial Fellow of the School of Botany at the University of Melbourne where from 1992 to 2010 she was the Head of the School of Botany, The University of Melbourne. Professor Ladiges was appointed to a "Personal Chair" at the University of Melbourne in recognition of her scientific discoveries and leadership within the university.

She has published more than 120 scientific articles in refereed journals of international standing, published eight book chapters, edited four special volumes, co-authored two biology textbooks for secondary education, and co-edited and co-authored the first substantial Australian biology textbook used in tertiary institutions. These three books have won prizes for Best Australian Textbook and Awards for Excellence in Australian Publishing.

Her research is in the field of plant ecology (predominantly 1974-1982) and phylogenetic systematics and historical biogeography (1983- present). She studies the evolutionary relationships and history of the Australian flora, particularly in relation to the botanical differentiation of geographic areas during the geological history of the continent. Lately Professor Ladiges and her research group have been elucidating the phylogeny of large Australian plant genera, including the eucalypts and acacias using molecular (DNA) and morphological techniques.

Pauline has had a distinguished career which has been recognised by a number of awards which include:

• Awarded the Nancy T. Burbidge Medal by the Australasian Systematic Botany Society (2011)
• Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the General Division (2009)
• Elected Fellow Australian Academy of Science (2002)
• Awarded Royal Society of Victoria 2005 Research Medal (biological sciences, non-human)
• Awarded Australian Centenary Medal (2003)

The above is an extract from ASBS Newsletter 137: 4-5 (2008); 138: 21 (2009).

Recipients

Year	Recipient	Institution	Conference	Title of Presentation	Newsletter	Photo
2019	Helen Kennedy	University of New England, New South Wales, Australia	Wellington	Revising Melichrus: a deep dive into the past, present and future of the urn heaths	181: 1
2018	Jessica Bruce	Edith Cowan University, Western Australia	Brisbane	Reedia spathacea phylogeography and population structure	178: 1
2017	Elizabeth Joyce	James Cook University, Cairns	Adelaide	Origins of the northern Australian flora: role of the Sunda-Sahul floristic exchange	173: 21
2016	Tim Collins	University of New England	Alice Springs	Would you like a new species and a fertile hybrid with that? Eucalyptus magnificata is not just an endangered species	168–169: 1
2015	Ben Anderson	University of Western Australia	Canberra	Using genotyping by sequencing to resolve the evolutionary relationships in a species complex of Australian arid zone grasses (Triodia)	165: 1
2014	Jessie Prebble	Massey University and Te Papa	Palmerston North, NZ	The population genetics of rarity in New Zealand plants: a case study delimiting species in recent radiations using Myosotis (Boraginaceae)	161: 28
2013	Kaylene Bransgrove	Australian Tropical Herbarium, James Cook University	Sydney	Mountain-top fungal endophytes of the wet tropics, Queensland: biodiversity, host specificity, biogeography and systematics	157: 22
2012	Lalita Simpson	Australian Tropical Herbarium, James Cook University	Perth	Mind the gap: phylogeography and taxonomy of the Dendrobium speciosum complex (Orchidaceae)	153: 3
2011	ASBS Conference was held as part of the International Botanical Congress and no student prizes were offered
2010	Caroline Puente-Lelievre	Australian Tropical Herbarium, James Cook University	Lincoln, NZ	Crossing the ditch? Historical biogeography of the trans-Tasman Styphelieae (Styphelioideae, Ericaceae)	144–5: 18
2009	Mark Wallace	University of Western Australia	Armidale	Using flow cytometry to investigate ploidy distribution: an example from the Lepidosperma costale (Cyperaceae) species complex	141: 26
2008	Trevor Wilson	University of Sydney	Adelaide	Does traditional classification of Prostanthera dictate how pollination has evolved?	137: 5

ASBS Poster Prize

The Poster Prize is awarded to the best poster presentation by a student at an ASBS conference.
The prize is sponsored by CSIRO.

Recipients

Year	Recipients	Institution	Conference	Title of Poster	Newsletter	Photo
2019	Francis Nge	University of Adelaide, Australia	Wellington	Biogeography of Pomaderris (Rhamnaceae) across the ditch
2018	Helen Kennedy	University of New England	Brisbane	Integrative taxonomic revision of Melichrus (Ericaceae)
2017	No Poster Prize awarded
2016	Charles Foster	University of Sydney	Alice Springs	There goes Thecanthes: molecular systematics expands the circumscription of Pimelea	168–169: 1
2015	Charles Foster	University of Sydney	Canberra	Estimating the evolutionary timescale of flowering plants using complete cp genome sequences	165: 1
2014	Sarah Wright	University of Canterbury, New Zealand	Palmerston North, NZ	Connecting the dots: a population genetic study of the disjunctly distributed species Pittosporum obcordatum	161: 28
2013	Sook-Ngoh Phoon	Australian Tropical Herbarium, James Cook University	Sydney	How many taxa in the West Malesian Elaeocarpus polystachyus group? Evidence from morphometric analysis	157: 22
2012	Benjamin Anderson	University of Western Australia	Perth	A revision of Rhynchotechum (Gesneriaceae)	153: 3
2011	ASBS Conference was held as part of the IBC and no student prizes were offered
2010	Austin Brown	National Herbarium of Victoria and The University of Adelaide	Lincoln, NZ	Morphological comparisons in Lachnagrostis across the ditch	144–5: 18
2009	Bort Edwards	University of Queensland	Armidale	Drawing a line in the sand: differentiation between Melaleuca argentea and M. fluviatilis, two ecologically similar members of the broadleaf paperbark complex	141: 27

Bob Anderson Memorial Student Award

A student from a developing country who presents a talk or poster at the annual conference of the Australasian Systematic Botany Society is eligible for The Bob Anderson Memorial Student Award. This award is judged and awarded to an eligible student attending the conference and no application is required.

Recipients

Previously-Offered Awards

Australian Conservation Taxonomy Award

The Australian Conservation Taxonomy Awards were designed to foster research by young scientists into important taxonomic problems that have significant implications for conservation in Australia. The Nature Conservancy created these awards, thanks to generous support from The Thomas Foundation. Awards were offered from 2012–2016, with support for plant systematics projects in 2012 and 2013 and with separate Botany and Zoology awards from 2014–2016.

Both the Botany and Zoology awards included $5000 toward research costs. The Botany award also included up to $2000 to assist with attendance at two ASBS conferences. Judging of awards was conducted by The Nature Conservancy with the assistance of the ASBS Research Committee (Botany Award) and Society of Australian Systematic Biologists (Zoology Award).

Past Australian Conservation Taxonomy Award Recipients

2016
Zoology award:

• Danielle Stringer, The University of Adelaide, "Investigating the evolution and systematics of endemic Haloniscus isopods (Oniscidea: Scyphacidae) from arid zone groundwater-dependent ecosystems using next generation sequencing techniques".
  

• Charles Foster, University of Sydney, "Using high-throughput sequencing to resolve the complicated evolutionary history of rice flowers (Pimelea: Thymelaeaceae)".

2015
Zoology award:

• Kirilee Chaplin, The University of Melbourne and Museum Victoria, "Taxonomy, ecology and conservation genetics of grassland earless dragons (Agamidae: Tympanocryptis spp.) in north-eastern Australia".
  

• James Clugston, RBG Sydney (enrolled at the University of Edinburgh), "Exploring new approaches for conservation genetics of Cycas calcicola Maconochie (Cycadaceae) in Australia".
• Rachael Fowler, The University of Melbourne and RBG Victoria, "The genus Eremophila in Australia's arid zone: phylogeny and biogeography in South Australia".

2014
Zoology award:

• James Shelley, The University of Melbourne, "The Kimberley Ark: assessing and conserving freshwater fish biodiversity in Australia’s last pristine river systems".

2013:
Botany award:

• Lalita Simpson, James Cook University, "What is at risk? Phylogeography and taxonomy of orchids endemic to Queensland’s mountain top biodiversity hotspots".

2012:
Botany award:

• Todd McLay, The University of Melbourne, "Classification, phylogeny and conservation of Xanthorrhoea in Western Australia".