The Roger Slack Award in Plant Biology
(Known as the ‘Outstanding Physiologist Award’ until 2007)
The 2012 award is open to early career researchers, working within 10 years of their PhD. Nominations or suggestions for nominations can be forwarded to the secretary at any time.
The 2011 recipient of the NZSPB Roger Slack Award in Plant Biology was Dr Kevin Davies, of Plant and Food Research, for his work on plant pigments.
Kevin studies the production and function of plant pigments, in particular the anthocyanins that provide colouration to many flowers, fruits and vegetables. Anthocyanin biosynthesis is an important plant character with functions ranging from attracting pollinators to ameliorating the harmful effects of high-light exposure. Moreover the pathway has become a key model for understanding how plants regulate genes in response to their environment. Dr Davies’ research has helped identify the transcription factors that control the anthocyanin biosynthetic genes and has shown how these factors interact to both respond to environmental stress and produce exquisite floral pigmentation patterning.
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The Roger Slack Award in Plant Biology is made annually by the Society to one of its members in recognition of an outstanding contribution to the study of plant biology. The first award was made in 2001, and was originally given the working title ‘The Outstanding Physiologist Award’.
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In 2007 the award was renamed after Dr Roger Slack in recognition of his outstanding contribution as a plant biologist and biochemist in New Zealand, his role in the discovery of C4 photosynthesis (also known as the Hatch Slack Pathway), and his contribution as an early member of our society. Roger was working with Marshall Hatch at the Colonial Sugar Refining Company in Brisbane when the pair provided the first description (Hatch and Slack 1966) of the photosynthetic pathway now known to operate in many tropical grasses, in which CO2 is first combined into 4-carbon acids before entering the 3-carbon PCR cycle. In 1970 Roger was the recipient of the Goldacre Award from our sister society the Australian Society of Plant Scientists, an award that also recognises outstanding research by a society member, and later, together with Hal Hatch, the Charles F. Kettering Award of the American Society of Plant Phyiologists and the Rank Prize for Nutrition. During the same year he joined the Plant Physiology Division of the DSIR where he soon began a collaborative study with Grattan Roughan, latterly of HortResearch, Mt Albert, and others, into the mechanisms of polyunsaturated fatty acid formation in plants, initially in leaves then also in oil seeds. This work established the key role of phosphatidyl choline in the endoplasmic reticulum in the formation of linolenic acid and largely explained how the characteristic acyl composition of the different plant lipids is determined. During the 1970's Roger was a founding member of our society, as well as a member of the Biochemical Society. He has also been elected Fellow of the Royal Society of London (one of only around 40 New Zealand scientists to receive this honour), and the Royal Society of New Zealand. Roger retired from Crop and Food Research in the year 2000, and still lives in Palmerston North.
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Eligibility for the award alternates each year between researchers who are within 10 years of their PhD, and all members, regardless of the time since their PhD.
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The award is made on the merit of original research in one area, the findings of which have been published, or accepted for publication, in the five years preceding the year of the Award.
- Applications or nominations should be forwarded to the Secretary. The Award is made after deliberation by the Society council, and consists of a medal, a certificate, a plenary address at the Society's annual conference, financial support (if necessary) to attend the conference, and the opportunity to prepare a review manuscript for the journal Functional Plant Biology. Further details are given below in the 'rules of the award'.
Previous Awards:
2011 Dr Kevin Davies, production and function of plant pigments
2009 Professor Matthew Turnbull, plant carbon and nitrogen physiology
2008 Dr Tina Summerfield, cyanobacterial physiology
2007 Associate Professor Kevin Gould – anthocyanin function in plants
2006 Dr Margaret Barbour – stable isotopes and plant carbon-water dynamics
2005 Dr Julian Eaton-Rye - photosynthesis in plant and cyanobacterial systems
2004 Dr Ralph Bungard - evolution and photosynthetic biology of parasitic plants
2003 Professor Peter Bannister - physiological ecology of New Zealand native plants
2002 Dr Andrew Allan - plant signal transduction and stress tolerance
2001 Dr Peter Minchin and Dr Michael Thorpe - the study of phloem transport using 11C as a tracer
Rules of Award
NZSPB Roger Slack Award in Plant Biology
1. The Award
1.1 The Award will be made on the merit of original research in one area, the findings of which have been published, or accepted for publication, in the five years preceding the year of the Award. More than one paper may be submitted, but these should clearly be related to one theme. The candidate need not be the sole author, but it should be evident that they have played a major role in both the design and execution of the work. Review papers are not considered.
1.2 The work presented shall be in any branch of Plant Biology. The Award shall not be made for work carried out under supervision while the applicant was a candidate for a research degree.
1.3 The work need not have been carried out in New Zealand.
1.4 The award will normally be made annually, with eligibility criteria for the Candidate alternating as spelt out in 2.2 below.
1.5 The Award will consist of a medal and certificate. The Awardee will be invited and funded by the Society to present their work in a lecture at the Society's Annual Conference in the year of the Award, and to provide text for subsequent publication as a refereed contribution (usually a review article) to the journal Functional Plant Biology.
2. The Candidate
2.1 A person may apply for the Award or a nomination may be made on their behalf.
2.2 The eligibility criteria for the Award shall alternate. In odd-numbered years, the Award shall be open to all candidates. In even-numbered years, candidates shall have been employed in science for no more than ten cumulative years since the year of submission of their doctoral thesis.
2.3 A candidate must be a current member of the Society and have had five years' residence in New Zealand during their working life.
2.4 A joint application from, or nomination of, two or more persons, each fulfilling all requirements, will be considered; but see clause 1.2 above.
2.5 Candidates are not restricted as to the number of occasions on which they apply, or are nominated, for the Award.
3. Procedures
3.1 Application for the Award will be made to the Secretary of the Society by the specified time, normally three months before the Annual Conference at which the Award is to be announced.
3.2 Each application shall include:
3.2.1 a citation limited to 100 words, for use should the candidate be successful;
3.2.2 a one page statement describing the merits of the applicant's work;
3.2.3 four copies of each of the papers forming the basis of the application;
3.2.4 a brief CV, which justifies the candidate's eligibility.
3.3 The Secretary of the Society shall maintain a register of the current year's applications. Those assessing applications shall not be told whether they have originated as nominations or direct applications.
3.4 The Award will be made by the Society on the recommendation of its Council. The Council may appoint a sub-committee, which will normally include the President, to facilitate assessment of applications and shall co-opt expert assessors from New Zealand or overseas as required.
3.5 The Council reserves the right not to make an award in any particular year or to make exceptions to these regulations should the need arise.