Centenary Research Grants 2003

Nine applications were received this year, and the standard was generally high, which made the selection of winners especially hard. Consequently, we have exceeded our normal allocation of funds to the Grants, and have made three grants, as follows:

1. £476 to Samuel Stanton (University of Portsmouth):
“Combining modern light microscope technique with electron microscopy to investigate the nature, distribution and ontogeny of cilia-bearing cells in the mantle of a larval bivalve.”

2. £500 to Rachel Przeslawski (University of Wollongong):
“The effects of ultraviolet radiation and algal fouling on molluscan embryonic development.”

3. £256 to Louise Puslednik (University of Wollongong):
“Taxonomy of Austropeplea tomentosa (Pfeiffer, 1855), an intermediate host of liver fluke.”

In all three cases, we were presented with well-designed projects, where the Grant would clearly enable the proposers to do work which could lead to publication.

Annual Award for 2002

The judging panel (Bill Bailey, Georges Dussart and Richard Preece) were pleased with the quality of all four entries, but unanimously agreed that the Annual Award be awarded to Dr Rachel Collin of Naos Laboratories, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama.

The award is made for the collection of papers from her Ph.D. thesis “Evolution of mode of development in Crepidula (Gastropoda: Calyptraeidae): Causes and Consequences” from the University of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and for work initiated in an undergraduate project These papers have appeared in American Naturalist, The Veliger, Canadian Journal of Zoology, Molecular Ecology, Biological Bulletin, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, and Marine Ecology & Progress Series.

Dr Collin describes her work elsewhere of this issue: Click Here

Nominations for the 2003 Annual Award and applications for Centenary Research Grants in 2004 should reach the Secretary by December 31st 2003. See back page, or The Society’s website for details.