John Holliday Student Conservation Award

Department of Primary Industries (DPI), within Regional NSW is aware of the diverse range of research that is being done each year by university research students and encourages the communication of the results of this work to assist the management of fisheries resources and aquatic habitats in NSW.

DPI offers the John Holliday Student Conservation Award to encourage research students to share their research findings on topics of interest to the Department. The winning entrant will receive a cash award of $3,000. The Award is named in honour of the late Dr John Holliday, a former Senior Conservation Manager who pioneered the Department’s involvement in aquaculture and fish conservation issues.

The award is open to research students who were enrolled at an Australian University during the year of Award and who undertook fisheries-orientated research work in NSW. To be considered, the applicant must have completed, or be completing, research/studies relevant to the Award Program (see below) and administered through an Australian University.

Applications for the 2020 Award must be submitted by COB 19 October 2020.

Information for applicants

The Department introduced the John Holliday Student Conservation Award in 1999. The Award aims to encourage research students to share their research findings on topics of interest to the Department. The 2020 John Holliday Student Conservation Award will consist of a cash prize of $3,000 to assist the student to complete their research and a Certificate of Achievement.

All research students (Honours, Research Masters, PhD students, or other research post-graduate students) who are currently enrolled and are completing their degree in NSW in areas relevant to the Award Program (see below) are eligible to enter.

Research areas relevant to the Award Program

To be considered for the John Holliday Award Program, research students work must fall in one of the categories below:

• Promote the sustainable growth of commercial fishing, recreational fishing, or aquaculture in NSW
• Protect and enhance NSW aquatic resources and environment

How to enter the Awards?

To enter the John Holliday Student Conservation Award, you will need to submit an electronic copy of a concise report summarising your research to date which is relevant to one or more of the above topics. The submission should be no longer than 2000 words in length and should be in standard scientific report writing format.
It should therefore include the following sections:

• Title
• Author's name and university affiliation
• Summary (in lay language)
• Introduction
• Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• References (Not included in the word count)

The entry email must include the entrant's name, student university identification details, address, contact phone number and alternative email address. The electronic copies should be emailed to Pamela Gallagher at: pamela.gallagher@dpi.nsw.gov.au

When are entries due?

Entries must be submitted by 19 October 2020.

What will happen to my entry once submitted?

Each year, a summary of the entries received will be compiled into a summary report entitled "Department of Primary Industries Student Conservation Award" and will be published on the DPI website. Your contact details will be included in this compendium unless you wish to remain anonymous. Please refer to:

• 2015 John Holliday Award Applicant Summaries (PDF, 278.74 KB) for 2015 submissions
• 2017 John Holliday Award Applicant Summaries (PDF, 243.77 KB) for 2017 submissions
• 2019 John Holliday Award Applicant Summaries (PDF, 412.97 KB) for 2019 submissions.

The Department would like to promote relevant entries submitted for the award in Newstreams (e-newsletter). As such, any images/maps/graphs that are provided may be used, in consultation with the author, to promote the student's work and institution.

Judging the Awards

The judging panel for the Award program consists of the Director Fisheries Research, Director Aquatic Environment and a representative from a NSW conservation group. The panel assesses the applications and recommends a winner to the Deputy Director General DPI Fisheries.

Further information

For further information on the John Holliday Student Conservation Award please contact:

Pamela Gallagher

Email: pamela.gallagher@dpi.nsw.gov.au

Phone: (02) 4916 3848