Approximately one third to one half of the ECS membership comprises students. To promote high standards in the quality and clarity of scientific presentation, the society coordinates a comprehensive assessment of student oral and poster presentations.
Upon submitting an abstract for a conference, a student can decide to nominate their presentation for consideration for the ACCOBAMS-ECS Student Award. Nominated presentations are assessed anonymously by conference attendees who are experts in relevant fields of study. The results are compiled and the first author of the presentations obtaining highest scores receive an award, including a prize and a certificate. Each year, an award is given for the following categories: best poster, best short talk and best long talk.
Only presentations for which the first author is a student and the student present the work themselves at the conference can be considered.
This award is generously sponsored by ACCOBAMS.
| Year | Conference | Title of Presentation | Awardee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Spain | First steps towards developing a welfare assessment framework for stranded cetaceans. | Rebecca Boys |
| 2023 | Spain | Fin whale satellite telemetry to enhance place-based conservation efforts and mitigate threats in the North-Western Mediterranean Sea. | Viola Panigada |
| 2022 | Israel | On the verge of extinction: what can be done to save the common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) in Israel. | Yaly Mevorach |
| 2018 | Italy | Origin and spread of phocine distemper virus in 1988 and 2002. | Iben Stockholm |
| 2017 | Denmark | Drivers of the Dive Response in Harbour Seals (Phoca vitulina). | Jeppe Kaczmarek |
| 2016 | Madeira | Conservation of killer whales in the Strait of Gibraltar requires ecosystem-based bluefin tuna fishery management. | Ruth Esteban |
| 2015 | Malta | Does the pressure of achieving reproductive success prevent grey seals from responding to human disturbance? | Amanda Bishop |
| Year | Conference | Title of Presentation | Awardee |
| 2023 | Spain | Modelling prey availability of the Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus) along a gradient of marine protection. | Ashlie McIvor |
| 2022 | Israel | Stay behind, not high above - underwater noise levels of three drones measured at various horizontal and vertical distances. | Amelie Laute |
| 2018 | Italy | From brick to bullet: Using Computational Fluid Dynamics to design bio-logging tags with minimal drag. | William Kay |
| 2018 | Italy | Kinematic and acoustic analysis of herring-eating killer whale feeding behaviour during different prey life-stages. | Pablo Chevallard |
| 2017 | Denmark | Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) in free ranging common bottlenose dolphins from the northern Adriatic Sea, in relation to demographic parameters. | Tilen Genov |
| 2016 | Madeira | Cytochrome P450 1A1 and 2B protein expression as biomarker for the first assessment of the ecotoxicological status of Cuvier's beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris) in the NW Mediterranean Sea. | Matteo Baini |
| 2015 | Malta | Development of a biomechanic model of grey seal impacts on the west coast of Scotland fisheries. | Vanessa Trijoulet |
| Year | Conference | Title of Poster | Awardee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Spain | New research platform offers unprecedented opportunities for studying Northern bottlenose whales in the Arctic. | Annika Reinholdt |
| 2023 | Spain | Exploring the habitat preferences and niche segregation of two teutophagous cetaceans in the Azores islands. | Marc Tolosa |
| 2023 | Spain | 25 years of research on killer whales in the Strait of Gibraltar. A Review. | Maria Cinta Sabaté-Gil |
| 2023 | Spain | Habitat preference of Risso's dolphins (Grampus griseus) in the south coast of Portugal. | Miguel Martins |
| 2023 | Spain | Polychlorinated biphenyls are associated with reduced testes weights in harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena). | Rosie Williams |
| 2023 | Spain | Predicting bottlenose dolphin habitat preference based on satellite-derived environmental data. | Sabrina Sykes |
| 2022 | Israel | In vitro digestion experiments in odontocetes. | Lisa Klemens |
| 2018 | Italy | Elucidating The Cave Use Pattern of Mediterranean Monk Seal On Exploited Habitats. | Merve Kurt |
| 2018 | Italy | Seasonal variations in girth measurements of individual harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena). | Emilie Nicoline Stepien |
| 2018 | Italy | Assessing reproductive parameters of females bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) from the Aeolian Archipelago (Southern Italy): a thirteen‐year mark‐recapture study. | Chiara Bruno |
| 2017 | Denmark | Mapping Danish marine mammal ecotourism. | Christian Riisager-Pedersen (Postgraduate) |
| 2017 | Denmark | The importance of correcting effort for “handling time” in species distribution models from non-dedicated surveys. | Anna Schleimer (Postgraduate) |
| 2017 | Denmark | The seasonal buoyancy budget of habour porpoises during dives. | Michael Ragkousis (Undergraduate) |
| 2016 | Madeira | First record of the nasal mite Halarachne halichoeri in a grey seal from the German Wadden Sea. | Anja Reckendorf (Postgraduate) |
| 2016 | Madeira | Echolocation parameters of Australian humpback dolphins (Sousa sahulensis) and Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in the wild: investigating biosonar parameter shaping pressures. | Mafalda de Freitas (Undergraduate) |
| 2015 | Malta | Shedding light on the phenomenon of grey seal predation on marine mammals. | Abbo van Neer |
| 2015 | Malta | Reproductive histories and inter-birth calving intervals of female bottlenose dolphins. | Texa Sim |
World Marine Mammal Conference
In Barcelona 2019 prices were awarded to students in a different format.
The winners are:
| Name | Category | Region | Title of presentation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sibu Ngqulana | Regional Winner | Africa | A take on years of wrangling over a controversial taxonomy: Delphinus spp. in South African waters |
| Jonathan Botha | Regional Winner | Africa | Geographic and individual-based differences in the trophic ecology of the Cape fur seal |
| Kahlia Gonzales | Regional Winner | North America | Female productivity and calf survivorship of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in Bocas, Panama |
| Heather Barrett | Regional Winner | North America | Investigating the energetic cost of human disturbance on the southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis) |
| Jonas F.L. Schwarz | Regional Winner | Europe | The deep, the shallow and the indecisive: Foraging strategies of Galápagos sea lions |
| Katherine Whyte | Regional Winner | Europe | An evaluation of Mahalanobis distance as a method to detect behavioural response in marine mammals from tag data |
| Sui Hyang Kuit | Regional Winner | Asia | Ranging patterns of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins (Sousa chinensis) in the Matang Important Marine Mammal Area in Perak, peninsular Malaysia |
| Mika Kuroda-Matsuo | Regional Winner | Asia | Clicks-sound production and frequency determining mechanism in the head of small toothed whales; Functional morphology with acoustical interpretation |
| Kaja Wierucka | Regional Winner | Oceania | Chemical fingerprints suggest direct familiarisation rather than phenotype matching during olfactory recognition in Australian sea lions (Neophoca cinerea) |
| Laetitia Smoll | Regional Winner | Oceania | Osmoregulation and electrolyte balance in a fully marine mammal, the dugong (Dugong dugon) |
| Guilherme Frainer | Regional Winner | South America | Echo-devo: Ontogeny and evolution of the sound generating structures in dolphins (Odontoceti: Delphinida) |
| Larissa Dalpaz de Azevedo | Regional Winner | South America | Another brick in the wall: Assessing population structure of Bryde’s whales (Balaenoptera brydei) through a multi-method approach |
| Sasha Dines | Judges Discretionary Award | SouSA: A nation-wide collaboration to improve the conservation of South Africa's Indian Ocean humpback dolphins (Sousa plumbea) | |
| Alessia Scuderi | ACCOBAMS Student Award | How to get mutual benefit for whale watching companies and cetaceans | |
| Alicia Borque Espinosa | ACCOBAMS Student Award | Developing a diagnostic tool to assess respiratory health in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) through spirometry | |
| Wint The | J. Stephen Leatherwood Conservation Award | It started with a fisher’s tale: Interdisciplinary research on marine mammals, their history, and their threats in the Gulf of Mottama, Myanmar | |
| Steffen De Vreese | Frederic Fairfield Award | The unprecedented sensitivity of the external ear canal of odontocetes, evolutionary adaptation, functional morphology, and histopathology | |
| Pauline Goulet | Frederic Fairfield Award | The quick and the dead: Novel sonar tags reveal predator-prey interactions in southern elephant seals | |
| Jessica Kendall-Bar | Frederic Fairfield Award | Novel, non-invasive methods for neurophysiological monitoring during rest behavior in phocids. | |
| Peter Madsen | Audience Favourite | Harbour porpoises modify biosonar behaviour in different environmental contexts | |
| Danielle Crain | Audience Favourite | A different kind of wax museum: Forecasting population trajectories of baleen whales using reproductive parameters from earplugs | |
| Mervi Kunnasranta | Audience Favourite | Coping with climate change in conservation of the endangered Saimaa ringed seal | |
| Michelle Fournet | Audience Favourite | Bearded seals adjust calling behavior to compensate for ambient noise, Alaska |