The International Biogeography Society

TODAY IS:

IBS AWARDS

Alfred Russel Wallace Award

The Alfred Russel Wallace Award was established by the International Biogeography Society (IBS) in 2004 to recognize a lifetime of outstanding contributions by an eminent scholar in any subdiscipline of biogeography. Previous recipients have included Drs. Jack Briggs, Jared Diamond, John Avise and Bob Ricklefs.

Preliminary nominations consist of a letter endorsing the candidate with an abbreviated copy of their curriculum vitae. The committee reviews these materials and solicits complete nomination packets (consisting of the letter of nomination, a complete CV, and three or more letters of recommendation) for selected individuals. The selected recipient will be invited to address the society at its next biennial meeting.

We are now in the process of accepting nominations for the 2013 award. Please forward preliminary nominations to Felisa Smith (fasmith@unm.edu), chair of the Awards Committee, by May 1, 2012. Current members of the IBS Board are not eligible for nomination.

Recipients:
Robert E. Ricklefs (2011) - interview
John C. Avise (2009) - interview
Jared M. Diamond (2007)
John C. Briggs (2005) - interview

MacArthur & Wilson Award

Named after R. H. MacArthur and E. O. Wilson, this award honors their seminal contributions to biogeography. The award recognizes an individual for a notable, innovative contribution to biogeography. It is targeted at comparatively early career investigators and has a guideline that recipients should have completed their PhD no more than 12 years before the deadline for nominations. The committee has some flexibility in regard to this criterion, to take account of differing life and career paths. A pair of collaborators might be considered providing both are eligible by this criterion.

The recipient should be prepared to offer a paper at the biennial meeting of the IBS and will be invited to publish a short article on their work in Frontiers of Biogeography. In return, their attendance at the meeting will be underwritten by the IBS.

Nominations consist of a supporting cover letter of no more than 800 words, co-signed by two members of the IBS, plus a short cv of the nominee, plus pdfs of four key papers published by the nominee, at least two of which should have been published within the last three years. Current members of the IBS Board are not eligible for nomination.

Inaugural competition:
The first award will be presented at the IBS biennial meeting in Miami, Florida, 10–12 January 2013. Nominations should be sent to the Chair of the MacArthur & Wilson Award Sub-Committee (pdf’s are preferred; Robert.whittaker@ouce.ox.ac.uk) no later than Friday 23rd March, 2012. An individual can be nominated for a single paper or a ‘group of papers’ and it is anticipated that such a corpus of work will involve – in the spirit of MacArthur & Wilson’s famous monograph – scholarly collaborations with other co-workers.

Lifetime Honorary Membership

The Society shall occasionally take the opportunity of a particular anniversary or event to award Lifetime Honorary Membership for especially notable contributions to biogeography.

Nominations will be considered twice per year by the IBS Awards Committee and confirmed with the recipient prior to announcement. Nominations may be submitted at any time to the President at least 6 months preceding a relevant anniversary or event and should consist of (1) a complete CV and (2) a biography of the nominee written in the style of a “Profiles - biography” article suitable for publication in Frontiers of Biogeography. We encourage simultaneous submission of the nomination package to the IBS and the biography to Frontiers of Biogeography. Awards are expected to be made rarely, but all biographies will be considered for publication in Frontiers of Biogeography coinciding with the anniversary or event.

Recipients:
James H. Brown (2013)
Edward O. Wilson (2007) - read the announcement