ASBS Student Support & Awards
Student Support & Awards
In addition to research grants, student members can apply for funding for travel. Awards are also presented for the best oral presentation and poster during the annual conference.
Pauline Ladiges Prize
The Pauline Ladiges Prize is awarded to the best oral presentation by a student at an ASBS conference. This award is judged and awarded at the conference and no application is required. The prize is sponsored by CSIRO.
Learn more about Pauline Ladiges.
Student Poster Prize
The ASBS Conference Poster Prize is awarded to the best poster presentation by a student at an ASBS conference. This award is judged and awarded at the conference and no application is required. The prize is sponsored by CSIRO.
Bob Anderson Memorial Student Award
Any student from a developing country who presents a talk or poster at the annual ASBS conference is eligible for the Bob Anderson Memorial Student Award. This award is judged and awarded at the conference and no application is required.
Learn more about Bob Anderson.
Student travel assistance
Student member assistance is available for most conferences where ASBS 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 who present either a talk or poster at the conference. Information about this award is provided each year on the conference page.
Previous Award Recipients
Pauline Ladiges Prize past recipients (2008-present)
2022
Thomas Mesaglio (University of New South Wales, Australia) Say ‘cheese tree’! Photographs as an essential biodiversity resource: drivers of gaps in the vascular plant photographic record (oral presentation)
2021
Francis J. Nge (University of Adelaide, Australia) Diversification dynamics in the floras of south-west and south-east Australia
2020
Conference cancelled due to Covid-19 pandemic.
2019
Helen Kennedy (University of New England, New South Wales) Revising Melichrus: a deep dive into the past, present and future of the urn heaths.
2018
Jessica Bruce (Edith Cowan University) Reedia spathacea phylogeography and population structure.
2017
Elizabeth Joyce (James Cook University, Cairns) Origins of the northern Australian flora: role of the Sunda-Sahul floristic exchange.
2016
Tim Collins (University of New England) Would you like a new species and a fertile hybrid with that? Eucalyptus magnificata is not just an endangered species.
2015
Ben Anderson (University of Western Australia) Using genotyping by sequencing to resolve the evolutionary relationships in a species complex of Australian arid zone grasses (Triodia).
2014
Jessie Prebble (Massey University and Te Papa, New Zealand) The population genetics of rarity in New Zealand plants: a case study delimiting species in recent radiations using Myosotis (Boraginaceae).
2013
Kaylene Bransgrove (Australian Tropical Herbarium, James Cook University, Australia) Mountain-top fungal endophytes of the wet tropics, Queensland: biodiversity, host specificity, biogeography and systematics.
2012
Lalita Simpson (Australian Tropical Herbarium, James Cook University, Australia) Mind the gap: phylogeography and taxonomy of the Dendrobium speciosum complex (Orchidaceae).
2011
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, Australia) Crossing the ditch? Historical biogeography of the trans-Tasman Styphelieae (Styphelioideae, Ericaceae).
2009
Mark Wallace (University of Western Australia, Australia) Armidale conference: Using flow cytometry to investigate ploidy distribution: an example from the Lepidosperma costale (Cyperaceae) species complex.
2008
Trevor Wilson (University of Sydney, Australia) Does traditional classification of Prostanthera dictate how pollination has evolved?
ASBS Conference Poster Prize past recipients (2009-present)
2022
Patricia Chan (University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA) Delving into the diversification of Darwinia (Myrtaceae): Phylogenomics, historical biogeography, pollination ecology, and gene flow of the southwestern Australian clade. (lightning talk)
2021
Helen Kennedy (University of New England, New South Wales, Australia) An integrative taxonomic revision of Melichrus – an update. (lightning talk)
2020
Conference was cancelled due to Covid-19 pandemic.
2019
Francis Nge (University of Adelaide, Australia) Biogeography of Pomaderris (Rhamnaceae) across the ditch.
2018
Helen Kennedy (University of New England, Australia) Integrative taxonomic revision of Melichrus (Ericaceae).
2017
No Poster Prize awarded.
2016
Charles Foster (University of Sydney, Australia) There goes Thecanthes: molecular systematics expands the circumscription of Pimelea.
2015
Charles Foster (University of Sydney, Australia) Estimating the evolutionary timescale of flowering plants using complete cp genome sequences.
2014
Sarah Wright (University of Canterbury, New Zealand) Connecting the dots: a population genetic study of the disjunctly distributed species Pittosporum obcordatum.
2013
Sook-Ngoh Phoon (Australian Tropical Herbarium, James Cook University, Australia) How many taxa in the West Malesian Elaeocarpus polystachyus group? Evidence from morphometric analysis.
2012
Benjamin Anderson (University of Western Australia, Australia) A revision of Rhynchotechum (Gesneriaceae).
2011
ASBS Conference was held as part of the International Botanical Congress and no student prizes were offered.
2010
Austin Brown (National Herbarium of Victoria and The University of Adelaide, Australia) Morphological comparisons in Lachnagrostis across the ditch.
2009
Bort Edwards (University of Queensland, Australia) Armidale conference: Drawing a line in the sand: differentiation between Melaleuca argentea and M. fluviatilis, two ecologically similar members of the broadleaf paperbark complex.
Bob Anderson Memorial Student Award past recipients (2013-present)
2022
No recipient.
2021
Matthew Adeleye (Australian National University, Australia) Region-specific Myrtaceae pollen morphology study is effective in separating fossil Myrtaceae pollen types
2020
No recipient; conference cancelled due to Covid-19 pandemic.
2019
Raees Khan (University of Adelaide, Australia) Game of cones: evolutionary trends and taxonomic significance of female cones in Podocarpaceae.
2018
Chapa Manawaduge (Queensland University of Technology, Australia) Conservation genetics of threatened native olives (genus Notolaea) in southern Queensland
2017
Rismita Sari (James Cook University, Cairns, Australia)
2016
Isaac Kerr (University of Adelaide, Australia) A Ripogonum look-alike from the Oligocene of New Zealand: a lesson in the importance of cuticle
2015
Janet Gagul (James Cook University, Cairns, Australia) Molecular phylogenetics of Elaeocarpus (Elaeocarpaceae) with a focus on New Guinea species
2014
Hernan Retamales (Queensland University of Technology, Australia) Character evolution in Myrceugenia (Myrtaceae): preliminary results using anatomical characters.
2013
Joshua Buru (Queensland University of Technology, Australia)
Australian Conservation Taxonomy Award past Recipients (2012–2016)
2016
- Danielle Stringer (University of Adelaide, Australia) Zoology award: Investigating the evolution and systematics of endemic Haloniscus isopods (Oniscidea: Scyphacidae) from arid zone groundwater-dependent ecosystems using next generation sequencing techniques
ASBS Newsletter 168-169: 16 (2016) - Charles Foster (University of Sydney, Australia) Botany award: Using high-throughput sequencing to resolve the complicated evolutionary history of rice flowers (Pimelea: Thymelaeaceae)
ASBS Newsletter 168-169: 16 (2016)
2015
- Kirilee Chaplin (University of Melbourne and Museum Victoria, Australia) Zoology award: Taxonomy, ecology and conservation genetics of grassland earless dragons (Agamidae: Tympanocryptis spp.) in north-eastern Australia
ASBS Newsletter 165: 23 - James Clugston (RBG Sydney, enrolled at the University of Edinburgh, Australia) Botany award: Exploring new approaches for conservation genetics of Cycas calcicola Maconochie (Cycadaceae) in Australia
ASBS Newsletter 165: 23 - Rachael Fowler (University of Melbourne and RBG Victoria, Australia) Botany award: The genus Eremophila in Australia’s arid zone: phylogeny and biogeography in South Australia
ASBS Newsletter 165: 23
2014
- James Shelley (University of Melbourne, Australia) Zoology award: The Kimberley Ark: assessing and conserving freshwater fish biodiversity in Australia’s last pristine river systems
ASBS Newsletter 161: 16 - No botany award.
2013
Lalita Simpson (James Cook University, Australia) Botany award: What is at risk? Phylogeography and taxonomy of orchids endemic to Queensland’s mountain top biodiversity hotspots
2012
Todd McLay (University of Melbourne, Australia) Botany award: Classification, phylogeny and conservation of Xanthorrhoea in Western Australia