Entomological Society of Queensland Awards
The ESQ Student Award ($500)
Submissions are now being accepted for the 2025 award.
The Student Award was established by the Society to encourage entomological research. It is open to any student who completed an Honours Degree, Postgraduate Diploma or 4-year Undergraduate Degree at a Queensland tertiary institution in the previous calendar year. Entrants need not be Society members. Entries are judged by a panel of entomologists appointed by the President of the Society. Award submissions open in late November and closes in April. The winner will be announced at the May General Meeting and is then invited to present a summary of their research at the June Notes and Exhibits meeting of the Society.
The ESQ Small Grants Scheme ($2000)
Submissions will be open soon for the 2025 award.
ESQ Council initiated the Small Grants Scheme in 2017 to further encourage entomological research and study, especially in our wonderfully diverse state of Queensland! We see this as an excellent way to reinvest Society resources into our membership community, providing support to undertake a project that advances our understanding of the amazing insect world that surrounds us. Projects can be anything related to entomology, including targeted collecting trips, visits to museums or other institutions, ecological, physiological or behavioural studies, or even work that's more applied and in the agricultural or medical fields.
The maximum budget for the project is $2000, with the successful applicant announced by the end of June. Funds will be available from July and the project is to be undertaken between July and June the following year.
The small grants scheme is available each year to support entomology related projects up to $2000.
- Applicants must be members.
- Projects must be undertaken in the 12 months from July of the year of submission to the following June.
- Projects are to be undertaken in Australia.
- Preference is given to stand-alone projects rather than as top-ups to existing projects.
- Proposals must be submitted to the secretary by March 31st.
- Submissions will be reviewed, then successful applicants will be notified in June in order to start their project in July.
- Recipients are required to provide a one page report at the project mid-point; a presentation at a Notes & Exhibits meeting is encouraged but not required.
- A written summary of research findings, project outcomes and a financial acquittal are required at the end of the project.
The 2023 ESQ Small Grant Award
This year's winner is Holly Farnan from James Cook University for her project: Investigating the effects of insecticide exposure, pathogens and viruses on bee diversity, abundance and health. Congratulations Holly!
The 2022 ESQ Small Grant Award
This year's winner is Joseph Schubert from the University of Sydney for his project: Elucidating the taxonomy of a clade of undescribed euophryine jumping spiders from Eastern Australia.
The 2021 ESQ Small Grant Award
This year's winner is Ethan Briggs, a PhD student from the University of Queensland. Ethan is currently revising the feather-legged tarantulas in the genus Selenotypus (Theraphosidae). Ethan is using morphological and molecular data to determine if the monotypic genus actually represents multiple undescribed species.
The 2020 ESQ Small Grant Award
Ethan Beaver is this year's recipient of the ESQ $2000 Small Grant. Ethan will enrol for Honours at the Australian National University in 2021 to study the systematics of the Ogyris aenone species complex with Australian National University A/Prof Michael Braby. The O. aenone species complex is a group of four presently recognised taxa of bright blue ant-associated butterflies commonly known as 'azures' found across tropical and subtropical woodlands of northern and eastern Australia. Inconsistencies within general adult morphology has led to some uncertainty with the classification of the species–or subspecies–and a revision of this group plans to provide clarification on the number and distribution of taxa within this complex.
The 2019 ESQ Small Grant Award
The Small Grants Recipient for 2019 is Colleen Foelz (edenINK editing) for publication of the Beetles of Brisbane: a newlypublished photo-guide to the city's common species.The 16-panel glossy brochure includes around 100 beetle images and covers 29 families. Beetles of Brisbane serves as a handy reference for anyone interested in trying to zero in on the family or even the species of beetle they have found or photographed. It includes an introduction to the Coleoptera, brief family descriptions (including tarsal formulae and estimated species number Australia wide) as well as the individual images with species name, length and some additional points of interest. Its production was supported in part by the 2019 ESQ Small Grant. The brochure is currently available for purchase at $8 (plus postage) Order form.
The 2018 ESQ Small Grant Award
The 2018 Grant recipient was Natalia Medeiros de Souza. Natalia is enrolled in a PhD at the University of the Sunshine Coast where she is studying Gonipterus beetles, a genus of weevils native to Australia where over 20 recognised species can be found associated with eucalypts. Some of these species are recognised pests in commercial plantations, both in Australia and overseas. Despite their importance, the diversity, abundance and distribution of species is largely unknown, and a recent study has identified a number of them to comprise a cryptic species complex. Natalia will use the grant to support travel to the ANIC in Canberra where she will access reference material and work with Dr. Rolf Oberprieler, a specialist in their taxonomy. Her studies include examination of eucalypt-Gonipterus – egg parasitoid associations in Queensland, where in-depth field surveys have not previously been conducted. Accurate identification of the weevils includes morphological observations under the microscope, dissection of male genitalia (the only reliable identification method for weevils within the "scutellatus" complex), and comparisons with catalogued specimens and literature descriptions. This will lead to molecular phylogenetics studies and investigation of cuticular hydrocarbon profiles as a potential diagnostic tool. One of the expected outcomes of this project is a detailed list of species of Gonipterus that occur in south-east Queensland that can be associated with egg parasitoids and their host ranges.
Past Student Awards
2022: Misha Mangila, University of Queensland
"Transcriptomics of an insect-induced gall"
2021: Elodie Tanner, University of Queensland
"The effect of herbivory on Diamondback moth host plant selection and its implications for trap cropping"
2020: Shannon Close, University of Queensland
"The female reproductive system of an adenotrophically viviparous fly, Cyclopodia albertisii Rondani 1878"
2019: Craig Edwards, University of Queensland
"A new genus of Melaleuca-galling eriococcid scale insects with over 60 species"
2018: Perry Bennion, University of Queensland
"Phylogenetic investigation of Podomyrma ants and their Psydrax hosts, and assessment of their nest associates in eastern Australia: Early investigations into an Australia Ant-Plant interaction and its associates"
2018: Melissa Starkie, Queensland University of Technology
"Is ITS1 barcoding an effective tool for use in tephritid fruit fly diagnostics?"
2016: Marisa Stone, Griffith University
"Edge effects on insects within urban fragmented eucalypt forests"
2015: Tom Semple, University of Queensland
"Systematics and ecology of the Australian gall-inducing insect genus Cystococcus (Hemiptera: Coccoidea: Eriococcidae), including a description of a new species"
2014: Gurion Ang, University of Queensland
"Species-specific responses of insect herbivores and their parasitoids to temporal changes in host plant volatile profiles"
2013: Andrew Maynard, University of Queensland
"Understanding bioluminescence synchronisation displayed by larvae of Arachnocampa tasmaniensis: A behavioural and phylogenetic approach"
2012: Nicholas Appleton, University of Queensland
"The genomic response to natural and sexual selection during adaptation to a novel environment"
2011: Rebecca Morley, University of Queensland
"Exploring the effect of light on glow-worm bioluminescence"
2010: Penelope Mills, University of Queensland
"How many species are there in the Apiomorpha minor species-group? Morphological, DNA sequence and chromosome evidence"