Steven Chown receives prestigious award
Professor Steven Chown of Stellenbosch University was awarded the first Martha T. Muse award art the YPI Oslo Science Conference. Together with professor Hans Petter Leinås, Chown leads one of the cooperation projects supported by the South Africa – Norway programme.
More than 2,000 researchers were gathered for the Oslo Science Conference (OSC) last week to mark the conclusion of the International Polar Year (YPI). The occasion was used by the Tinker Foundation to present its first Martha T. Muse award for “excellence in Antarctic science and policy”. The award ceremony was attended by Crown Prince Håkon of Norway and Prince Albert II, Sovereign Prince of Monaco, in addition to prominent personalities from the world of science. For details, see the report from the ward ceremony.
Following the reception of the award, professor Chown delivered the first keynote lecture of the YPI OSC, where he presented some of the results from his scientific work in Antarctica. Part of it is based on the work undertaken together with his fellow principal investigator Hans Petter Leinås of the University of Oslo. With financial support from the South Africa Norway programme of Research Collaboration since 2002, Chown and Leinås have been studying adaptation to climate change of tiny springtails (Collembola species). The two researchers, with expertise and experience from Antarctica and Svalbard, respectively, have used their collective knowledge to further the understanding on how climate change and human activity affect the ecosystem.
For more about the springtail project, see the attached article. Pole-to-pole climate research (PDF-2 130 KB)
- Published:
- 14.06.2010
- Last updated:
- 14.06.2010
