The Department of Biosciences awards the following prizes: the Award for Outstanding Scientific Article, the HSE Prize and the Communication of science award. In addition, the Darwin Prize from the Center for Evolutionary and Ecological Synthesis (CEES) is awarded, and the Attention Prize is passed on from one employee to another.
Outstanding scientific article
This year, awards were given for 2021 and 2022, and the external committee concluded that they wanted to award two first prizes and two second prizes for Outstanding Scientific Paper.
- First prize for Outstanding scientific article went to Erna Davydova et al, with the article "The methyltransferase METTL9 mediates pervasive 1-methylhistidine modification in mammalian proteomes", published in Nature Communications.
- First prize for Outstanding scientific article went to Ane Charlotte Christensen et al, with the article "Perineuronal nets stabilize the grid cell network", published in Nature Communications.
- Second prize for Outstanding Scientific Article went to William B. Reinar et al, with the article "Length variation in short tandem repeats affects gene expression in natural populations of Arabidopsis thaliana", published in The Plant Cell.
- Second prize for Outstanding Scientific Article went to Michael Matschiner et al, with the article "Supergene origin and maintenance in Atlantic cod", published in Nature Ecology & Evolution.
The HMS award
The HSE prize is awarded annually to a person at IBV who has made a significant contribution to health, environment and safety at the department. The HMS award for 2022 was awarded to Tove Klungervik.
Tove Klungervik is essential for the organization of the laboratory activities at FYSCELL and for the researchers' opportunities. She has done a great job in ECOonline and has one of the MN faculty's best organized chemical storage rooms. Tove also showed a far greater effort than could be expected on the occasion of the asbestos remediation, and is a great resource for the department.
Communication of Science
The Communication of Science award was given to Rebekah Alice Oomen, for her good ability to communicate science.
Rebekah Oomen co-founded the scientific and artistic project "Torsketromming" that brought together marine biologists, musicians, composers, programmers, visual artists, physicists, choreographers, and fishers to explore the role of song in the cod mating ritual, and the consequences of a changing ocean for marine ecosystems and society. This work has reached thousands of audience members.
In addition, Rebekah has written in Aftenposten and Agderposten about the cod crisis, and has secured considerate funds for supporting artistic performances, exhibitions and outreach.
The Attention Award
A walking trophy from employee to employee is also awarded: the Attention Award. The prize is awarded to someone of the opposite sex, in a different department, and preferably in a different job category than the one who awards. The award is passed on to another employee who spreads joy and a good atmosphere in the workplace.
For 2022, the award went on from Lex Nederbragt to Pernille Bronken Eidesen.
The Darwin Prize
The Darwin Prize in Evolutionary Biology is an encouragement to an individual or team who has carried out outstanding research in evolutionary biology, and/or otherwise supported and promoted such work.
This year, the Darwin Prize went to Eivind Andreas Baste Undheim, which was presented by Nils Chr. Stenseth on Darwin Day on 11 February 2022.