Prizes, Honours and Awards

• Professor Cockburn: Awarded the 2005 DL Serventy Medal of the Royal Australasian Ornithologist's Union for outstanding contributions to scientific ornithology.
• Dr David Happold: Awarded Life membership of the Amerrican Society of Mammalogists.
• Dr John Hunt: Awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Fellowship.
• Professor Crisp and Dr Cook: Invited to present work at a discussion meeting of the Royal Society of London.

Significant Outreach Activities in 2004

• The School of Botany and Zoology hosted a special public seminar by Dr Willi Smits, who described his ongoing work on orangutan conservation in Borneo. The seminar was introduced by the Netherlands Ambassador.
• Widespread international media attention followed the publication in Nature of research by Pat Backwell and Michael Jennions demonstrating the 'dear neighbour' effect in animals for the first time. They demonstrated that strong individuals intervened to help their weaker neighbours, thus preserving an asymmetry between the 'helpful' strong individual and its surrounding counterparts.
• A new ABC documentary featuring the work of postdoctoral fellow Dr Menna Jones on Tasmanian devils was released.
• Dr Braby published his new Field Guide to the Butterflies of Australia, which should promote public awareness and conservation efforts devoted to these charismatic animals.

Key Achievements Against Goals in 2004

• We have established new research facilities in ecological chemistry with the purchase of an MEC funded laboratory for gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy. In addition to supporting work by the Peakall and Foley labs, this facility is now being used by researchers from Switzerland and Macquarie University.
• In addition to the $2.9 million in ARC grants commencing in 2004, staff were awarded a number of ARC Discovery Grants that will commence in 2005.
• The School now hosts four Fellowships at the QEII/ARF level.
• Several members of the School also participated in a successful LIEF bid to establish a new national facility in ecological immunology at the University of Wollongong.

Key Directions for 2005

• The School of Botany and Zoology has begun a program to expand its research and teaching capability in genetics.
• The School is continuing to develop models in collaboration with RSBS and CSIRO for improvement of plant growth facilities on campus, and we view this as our major infrastructure aim for 2005.