Max Day Award supports parrot conservation and bushfire research

Mr Nicholas Leseberg from the University of Queensland and Dr Marta Yebra from the Australian National University are the first two recipients of the Academy’s Max Day Environmental Science Fellowship Award.

The Max Day Award provides up to $20,000 to support early-career researchers working on the conservation of Australia’s flora and fauna, ecologically sustainable use of resources, protection of the environment and ecosystem services.

Max Day is a champion of entomology, conservation and forestry, and at 101 is the oldest and longest-serving Academy Fellow. The Academy is providing this support to early-career researchers in his honour.

PhD student Mr Leseberg will use his Max Day Award to investigate the ecology of the elusive and endangered Night Parrot, while Dr Yebra will study the moisture content of Australian forests to create models that predict bushfires.

Mr Leseberg and Dr Marta will receive their awards at the Academy’s annual signature science event Science at the Shine Dome on 24 May.

In addition to the awardees, three researchers were ‘highly commended’:

• Dr Hugo Harrison from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University for his project ‘Connecting reefs in the Anthropocene: managing Australia’s coral reefs for recovery and persistence’
• Dr Kerensa McElroy from CSIRO for her project ‘The ‘DNA footprint’ of near extinction: interrogating 100 years of black-throated finch decline by sequencing contemporary and historical specimens’
• Mr Max Worthington from Flinders University for his project ‘Renewable polymers for agriculture and the environment’.

More information on the awardees

Applications for the 2018 Max Day Environmental Science Fellowship Award close on 1 June.