Important Changes to the Society’s Awards and Grants

The Malacological Society of London, in pursuit of the Society’s charitable aims, is increasing the value, number and scope of its Awards and Grants as follows. The Society will continue to provide funds for the organization of its meetings, including travel bursaries to the Molluscan Forum each autumn.

 Centenary Research Grants

The Society is increasing the value of these grants to a maximum of £1000, and aims to fund at least five awards each year.  In order to have immediate effect, the closing date for this year’s applications is extended to 31^st March 2005. The closing date for applications for future years will be 31 December. The successful applicants will be announced at the Annual General Meeting on 28^th April. Persons who have already applied have been informed that they may increase the amount requested to the new maximum. In an extension to the scope of these Grants, Council will also consider applications for attendance at meetings and any purposes associated with malacology. The conditions of the award, notes of guidance and an application form are on the Society’s website at www.Malacsoc.org.uk

The international range and scientific breadth of the Awards is reflected by the holders in the last five years:

2004	Naolejela Andreev, Chisinau, Moldavian Republic	Growth patterns of Helix pomatia in relation to mineral dietary supplements	£435
2004	Julian Finn, Science Museum, Melbourne	Argonauts: systematics and biology	£500
2003	Sam Stanton, University of Portsmouth	Ontogeny of mantle cilia in oyster larvae	£476
2003	Rachel Przeslawski, University of Wollongong, NSW	Fouling and gastropod egg masses	£500
2003	Louise Puslednik, University of Wollongong, NSW	Taxonomy of Austropeplea tomentosa an intermediate host of liver fluke	£256
2002	Kathryn Perez, University of Alabama	Systematic relationships within the genus Praticolella (Polygyridae) from Southern US and Mexico	£504
2001	Fiona Gowland, University of Aberdeen	Mechanisms of growth in embryonic squid	£217
2000	Erika Iyengar, Cornell University	Evolutionary Ecology of Kleptoparasitism and suspension feeding in Trichotropis cancellata	£300
2000	Purba Pal, Rhodes University, S. Africa.	Oogenesis and vitellogenesis in Siphonariid limpets	£300

Annual award

The Annual Award for an exceptionally promising initial contribution to the study of molluscs is increased to £500. Candidates must be nominated by a Member of the Society, and the closing date is 31 December. The last five winners have been:

2003	Stephan Müller, University of Cambridge	The Asian Clam in Britain
2002	Rachel Collin, University of Scranton, Pennsylvania	Evolution of mode of development in Crepidula
2000	Dan Geiger, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, California	Revision of the Haliotidae
1999	Richard Meyrick, University of Cambridge	Biostratigraphy and dating of Holocene tufa successions in NW Europe
1998	Mikael Thollesson, Goteburg University	Nudibranch systematics and molecular data

Sir Charles Maurice Yonge Award

Since 2002, these awards have been available as bursaries to support student attendance at a designated conference or workshop concerning bivalves, as a prize for an outstanding student presentation on bivalves at a designated meeting, or, exceptionally, as a prize for an outstanding paper on Bivalvia in the Journal by a person starting their career. The designated meeting for 2005 is the American Malacological Society meeting in Monterey, California, 26-30 June 2005 (closing date for applications 31 March 2005). The maximum amount for one of these awards is £250. In addition to the above categories, successful Centenary Research Grant applications (maximum amount £1000) concerned with the study of Bivalvia may be awarded as Sir Charles Maurice Yonge Awards.

All applications before 28th April 2005 should be sent to the Secretary, Professor Georges Dussart, Canterbury Christ Church University College, Canterbury CT1 1JK, U.K. All applications after that date should be send to Dr Tony Walker, School of Life Sciences, Kingston University, Penrhyn Road, Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey KT1 2EE.

Applicants for any Award or Grant do not have to be members of the Society.

New Society Awards for Schools

To increase the public understanding of science, the Council of the Malacological Society of London proposes to award six prizes of £100 each to schools which can show that they have taken, or propose to take, a practical, scientific interest in the study of molluscs. Ideally, the awards will go to schools which have developed a project or practical based on some aspect of the biology of molluscs. Criteria for the awards could include scientific quality, innovation, an interesting presentation, applied significance and practical value in an educational setting. The aim of these awards would be to try to increase the level of interest in molluscs throughout the country. It is proposed to launch the Awards at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Science Education in January 2006. For further information or comments, please contact the Secretary of the Society.

Georges Dussart