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Ornithology award for Professor Vickers-Rich

7 September 2005

Professor Patricia Vickers-Rich, a world expert on bird fossils, has received a prestigious new award for her services to ornithological research.

Professor Vickers-Rich (pictured), who is also director of the Monash Science Centre, received one of 10 inaugural W. Roy Wheeler Medallions for Excellence in Field Ornithology, presented by the Bird Observers Club of Australia.

The awards are named in honour of the late Wilson Roy Wheeler, a prominent figure in bird watching last century.

Mr Wheeler promoted recreational bird watching, initiated surveys and data collections and stimulated a change in philosophy in many observers from individual bird watching to a more organised field ornithology.

At the awards ceremony at the University of Melbourne last month, the audience was told that Professor Vickers-Rich was a tireless initiator of projects, who had spent many years on avian fossil sites around the world.

Her work, together with that of her husband, Dr Thomas Rich from the School of Geosciences, international collaborators and many volunteers, had helped establish the concept of a southern origin for many of Australia's birds. Dr Rich's contribution was also recognised in the Bird Observers Club award.

Professor Vickers-Rich, who was born in the US and came to Australia in 1971, said she was honoured to have received the award.

"My work in Australia really began with birds, and it has been a fascinating journey that I continue to enjoy," she said.