The Asia Pacific Chapter of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation presents the Prizes for the Best Student Papers each year at its Annual Meeting. Two prizes are given each year:

– The Madav Gadgil Prize for Best Student Oral Presentation

– The Peter Ashton Prize for Best Student Poster

All individuals who have been students within the previous 12 months are eligible, including those who have completed the Ph.D. within that period. The number of years of eligibility is not limited. The work must have been done by the student as the senior author on the paper. All students who wish to be considered for ATBC AP Chapter Prizes must indicate so on their registration forms. Prize criteria are the same as for the Al Gentry Award :

– ATBC membership

– originality of study

– contribution of the study to science

– breadth of the study

– quality of the research design and execution of the data analysis

– quality of the presentation, including audio-visual materials.

The Committee reserves the right to make no award if it deems that no deserving paper has been presented or if fewer than five eligible papers are presented. All students who wish to be considered for the Gentry Award must indicate so on their registration forms.


2015 ATBC Asia Pacific Chapter Prize Ceremony

In Phnom Penh, the winners of the prizes received a copy of the book The Ecology of Tropical East Asia, second edition by Richard Corlett. The winners were introduced by Alice C. Hughes: AP Chapter secretary, and the prizes were offered by Susan Laurance: 2015 ATBC Past President and Tony Lynam: AP Chapter Chair.

Six prizes were awarded for oral presentations of the 38 student oral presentations, and three prizes were awarded for the 15 student posters.

Tuanjit Sritongchuay won the Madav Gadgil Prize for her presentation on “Differential effects of forest proximity on fruit set of tropical tree crops dependent on pollination guilds”, with Krizler Tanalgo winning second prize, Eleanor Warren-Thomas third, Sheema Abdul Aziz forth, Carla Monoy fifth, Saveng Ith in sixth place.

Trang Nguyen won the Peter Ashton Prize for her poster on “Ivory and rhino horns consumption and consumers in Asia, with a focus on China and Vietnam”. Xue Xia won second place and Rahmawati Ihsani won third prize for her poster.


2013 ATBC Asia Pacific Chapter Prize Ceremony

In Banda Acech, the winners of the prizes received the book Tropical Rain Forests: An Ecological and Biogeographical Comparison, 2nd Edition by Richard Corlett and Richard Primack. The winners were introduced by Richard Corlett, 2012 Past-President, and the prizes were offered by Lucia Lohmann, 2013 ATBC President (© Tropicalbio.org)

Madav Gadgil Prize for Best Student Oral Presentation

2013 – Nandini Velho – From mosquito to minister: malaria and the management of a tiger reserve in north-east India. Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science & School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Smithfield, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

Peter Ashton Prize for Best Student Poster Paper

2013 – Manichanh Satdichanh – Species composition of Angiosperm in Phou Khao Khoauy National Park, Lao PDR. Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China & Faculty of Forestry, National University of Laos (NUoL), Laos.