Awards

RESEARCH

In 2012, the Azorean Biodiversity Group (ABG) initiated the attribution of the “Azorean Biodiversity Group Prizes” that aim to highlight excellence in research. The annual prizes are awarded to members of the group, to collaborators or to other scientists in several categories.

  • 2015

    BALA - Biodiversity of Arthropods Laurisilva of Azores 2015

    This prize will be awarded every year to the most influent researcher generating data or analyses in the BALA Project

    François Rigal, is a French researcher, who came to the Azores as a Post-Doc in 2010, working within two FCT projects. In the last five years he was an influential researcher in the modelling of BALA databases, contributing also to the writing of the most recent FCT approved project MACDIV. He has published ca. 20 publications on SCI Journals for the GAB-CITA-A/cE3c. François Rigal is currently a researcher in the University of Pau (France).

    The Azorean Biodiversity Group “Science Outreach” Award - 2015

    This prize is awarded to the person(s) that promote science communication and outreach

    Luís M. Arruda is an Azorean scientist, who worked until his retirement in the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon. He receives this award due to his recent publication “Scientific Discovery of Azores [Descobrimento científico dos Açores]”. In this book the author presents a detailed description of all the scientific expeditions to the Azores before the Volcanic Eruption of Capelinhos. This book will be a fundamental work for long time since it compiles a large amount of information about the natural history studies and research in the Azores.

    Luis M. Arruda was born in Horta (Faial, Azores) in 1944. Doctor of Science with the title of Aggregate from the University of Lisbon, he taught at this University until his voluntary retirement in 2008. He was a researcher at the IMAR – Institute of Marine Research, and a guest researcher at Catholic University of Lisbon. He coordinated the edition of the Azorean Encyclopedia and edited the “Bulletin of the Horta Cultural Nucleus”. He lectured various disciplines and mentored internships, scientific monographs and doctoral projects. His scientific research focused on biology applied to fisheries management, and was later devoted to the study and dissemination of the Azores scientific discovery.

    The Azorean Biodiversity Group Engagement 2015

    This prize is awarded to the person(s) that demonstrate the highest level of commitment to the Group, exceeding their appointed tasks

    Fernando Pereira is an Azorean technician and an influential member of Azorean Biodiversity Group. He works in most of the projects coordinated by members of Terceira, dominating all the sampling methods for plants and invertebrates and helping in the management of our natural collections, especially of vascular plants and arthropods. In the field, he is an invaluable collaborator and a precious guide to all the corners of the native vegetation in all the nine islands, or to the more that 200 lava tubes and volcanic pits. Since 2007 he is an author of more than 30 publications, eleven of which in SCI papers. With a unique personality, he is also a friend and a support in the most stressful field situations.

    The Most Productive Young Researcher 2015

    This prize will be awarded every year to the most productive young researcher of the ABG Group

    Thomas Matthews, is an English young researcher, studying the biology of fragmentation under the supervision of Prof. Robert Whittaker (University of Oxford, UK), and the collaboration of Prof. Paulo A. V. Borges (University of Azores, PT). In the period of 2013-2015 he authored 14 publications, 12 of which in SCI Journals, and nine as leading author. He received his Ph.D. in 27th February 2015.

  • 2014

    BALA - Biodiversity of Arthropods Laurisilva of Azores 2014

    This prize will be awarded every year to the most influent researcher generating data or analyses in the BALA Project

    Kostas A. Triantis started his independent scientific career in Univ. of Oxford U.K. (February 2007 to July 2008) as a Marie-Curie Research Fellow. He started a Post-Doc in Univ. of Azores in November 2008 and in the following years participated in three of the ten Most Cited papers of the ABG (http://www.gba.uac.pt/noticias/ver.php?id=133). He also leaded one of the most influential paper of ABG, published in 2010 in Ecography (*). Between 2009 and 2013 Kostas Triantis participated on 26 publications affiliated to ABG, 20 of them in SCI Journals. He also actively participated in the writing of two successful FCT competitive projects, one of them to resample 30 BALA plots in 2010. Kostas is now an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biology of the University of Athens (Greece).

    *Triantis, K.A., Borges, P.A.V., Ladle, R.J., Hortal, J., Cardoso, P., Gaspar, C., Dinis, F., Mendonça, E., Silveira, L.M.A.,  Gabriel, R., Melo, C.,  Santos, A.M.C., Amorim, I.R.,  Ribeiro, S.P., Serrano, A.R.M., Quartau, J.A. & Whittaker, R.J. (2010). Extinction debt on oceanic islands. Ecography, 33: 285-294. DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0587.2010.06203.x. (IF2013: 4.207; Q1 Ecology) (http://hdl.handle.net/10400.3/1712).

    The Associate Collaborators Prize 2014

    This year we decided to highlight the important contribution of our Associated Collaborator, Simone Fattorini, for the international promotion of the Azorean Biodiversity Group. Since 2010 Simone is actively collaborating with Azorean Biodiversity Group, with three visits to Terceira to develop some publications about Azorean biodiversity. In the last years he published four papers with Azorean arthropod data and in total he published an impressive number of 45 papers in SCI journals with ABG affiliation.

    Simone Fattorini is an independent Italian researcher that is a teacher of mathematics and science in a middle school at Rome. He is an ecologist and a zoologist with broad interests, involving insect biogeography, ecology and conservation in island, coastal and urban ecosystems. He is also interested in the study of vertebrate and invertebrate macroecological patterns. He has taught Applied Ecology at “Roma Tre” University and he has worked at the Italian Agency for the Environmental Protection (now ISPRA).

    The Events 2014

    This prize will be awarded every year to the investigator that leaded an event of high relevance promoting the visibility of ABG

    This year the prize goes for the main promoters of the Azorean Biodiversity Group Facebook webpage (https://www.facebook.com/azoreanbiodiversitygroup?ref=hl)

    Enésima Mendonça, Artur Gil, Carla Rego and Orlando Guerreiro, are frequently posting important news on international relevant biodiversity publications, events or software.

    This facebook page was created in December 2013 and has 1029 likes. Of these the vast majority are Portuguese, followed by the Spanish and North Americans. But we come to countries such as Venezuela, Brazil, Austria, Netherlands, Austalia, Japan, Kenya, Vietnam, etc. In the last three months GBA Facebook page had a daily average of 218 people to view any content associated with it.

    The Most Productive Young Researcher 2014

    This prize will be awarded every year to the most productive young researcher of the ABG Group

    Artur Gil was the most productive post-doc young researcher of the ABG Group in last years, with six SCI papers in 2014 and 15 SCI papers since 2011. Artur Gil is a Post-Doctoral Research Scientist in Remote Sensing of the Environment being based in the Department of Biology of the University of the Azores. His current research is focused on the use of Satellite Remote Sensing and Data Modelling for decision support on Land Management and Environmental Planning in Macaronesian Islands.

  • 2013

    BALA - Biodiversity of Arthropods Laurisilva of Azores 2013

    This prize will be awarded every year to the most influent researcher generating data or analyses in the BALA Project

    Joaquin Hortal started his independent scientific career in Azores as a Post-Doc in 2005 and in the following years participated in six of the ten Most Cited papers of the ABG (http://www.gba.uac.pt/noticias/ver.php?id=133). He also leaded the most cited paper of ABG (*), published in 2006 in Journal of Animal Ecology, and later in 2009 selected for the first number of Methods in Ecology and Evolution (Virtual Issue) as an influential paper. Joaquin Hortal is currently a researcher in the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Depto. Biogeografía y Cambio Global (MNCN), Madrid, Spain.

    (*)  Hortal, J., Borges, P.A.V. & Gaspar, C. (2006). Evaluating the performance of species richness estimators: Sensitivity to sample grain size. Journal of Animal Ecology, 75: 274-287.

    The Events 2013

    This prize will be awarded every year to the investigator that leaded an event of high relevance promoting the visibility of ABG

     

    Isabel Amorim, Ana Moura Arroz and Rosalina Gabriel leaded and implemented outreach activities to raise awareness towards endemic insects of the Azores. Those initiatives, that involved many of the GBA members, included an unprecedented urban intervention in the Azores, “Azoreans millions of years ago" and the Facebook initiative “Chama-lhe Nomes” (https://www.facebook.com/Chama.lhe.Nomes).

    Unique macro photographs of insects were placed in 12 buildings in the main arteries of Angra do Heroísmo, in order to acquaint the Azorean one unique natural heritage (see more at http://cita.angra.uac.pt/ficheiros/noticias/1364834635.pdf). “Azoreans millions of years ago" resulted from collaboration between experts in evolutionary biology, entomology, social psychology, communication design and extreme macro photography of Azorean Biodiversity Group (CITA-A, GBA) and funding and supported from various partner institutions : FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology [Proj. PTDC/BIA-BEC/104571/2008] Association "The Montanheiros" ART - Regional Tourism Association, Regional Secretary of Natural Resources, Municipality of Angra do Heroismo.

    The photos were performed by Javier Torrent (https://500px.com/javier_torrent) and communication design was led by Ana Moura Arroz in a team that also includes Rita São Marcos, Rosalina Gabriel, Isabel Amorim, Paulo Silva and Paulo A. V. Borges (the Coordinator of the FCT Project). 

    The Most Productive Young Researcher 2013

    This prize will be awarded every year to the most productive young researcher of the ABG Group

    Silvia Calvo Aranda, a Spanish young researcher, was the most productive young Ph.D. researcher of the ABG Group with about 13 publications in the period 2009-2013, eight of which ISI papers (four of which as leading author). Two additional papers as leading author are currently under evaluation. She is conducting her research in “Bryophyte diversity patterns in the Macaronesian region” under the supervision of Prof. Jorge Lobo (Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (MNCN), Madrid, Spain) and Prof. Rosalina Gabriel and Prof. Paulo A. V. Borges from University of Azores (GBA, CITA-A). One of her publications was recently published in the leading ecological Journal Global Ecology and Biogeography (with an impact factor of 7.22).

  • 2012

    BALA - Biodiversity of Arthropods Laurisilva of Azores 2012

    This prize will be awarded every year to the most influent researcher generating data or analyses in the BALA Project

    Clara Gaspar started her scientific career in Azores as one of the team members of Project BALA. Clara Gaspar leaded in the last 12 years the development of several taxonomic, ecological and trait databases of crucial importance for the research of the Group. She has a Ph.D. by the University of Sheffield (Supervised by Kevin Gaston and Paul A. V. Borges) and is currently doing a Post-Doc in Science Communication.

    The Azorean Biodiversity Group Engagement 2012

    This prize is awarded to the person(s) that demonstrate the highest level of commitment to the Group, exceeding their appointed tasks

    Enésima Mendonça was leading in the last six years the creation and management of the ATLANTIS database that is the support of the Azorean Biodiversity Portal. She is also coordinating many activities within the ABG being influential in the success of the Group. Enésima took her Bsc in University of Azores and is about to submit her MSc thesis this year.

    The Events 2012

    This prize will be awarded every year to the investigator that leaded an event of high relevance promoting the visibility of ABG

    Carla Rego is a Post-Doc of ABG working on molecular ecology. She has a BSc and Ph.D. by the University of Lisbon – Faculty of Sciences. She leaded this year the organization of the most important event, the XV Iberian Congress of Entomology that occurred in Angra do Heroísmo (2-6 September) with about 130 participants.

    The Linnean Prize 2012

    This prize was awarded this year by the occasion of the Iberian Congress of Entomology to highlight the importance of taxonomic studies for the advance of ecological studies

    Artur Serrano is a leading Carabidae taxonomist in Portugal and Europe with also an expertise on ground-beetle ecology. Artur took is Ph.D in Zoology by the University of Lisbon where he rapidly progressed as leading taxonomist in Carabidae. His studies also include biodiversity inventories in Madeira archipelago and collaboration with ABG in BALA project. He is contributing to solve the Linnean shortfall.

    The Most Productive Young Researcher 2012

    This prize will be awarded every year to the most productive young researcher of the ABG Group

    Pedro Cardoso was the most productive young researcher of the ABG Group, with about 12 ISI papers in 2012 and about 30 ISI papers in the last three years. Pedro Cardoso is a Community Ecologist who spent the last six years of research as Post-Doc  in ABG and also in the Smithsonian Museum. He has a Ph.D. by the University of Lisbon - Faculty of Sciences (Supervised by Artur Serrano) and in September this year starts a new position in the Natural History Museum of Helsinki (Univ. of Helsinki).