The presentation was made by Professor Andrew Balmford at the Part II Leavers' Party, on Monday 8th June 2015

'Janet Moore was an outstanding teacher, supervisor and mentor for generations of Cambridge zoologists.  Following her death last summer the Department decided to recognise Janet’s contributions by establishing the Janet Moore Prize for supervising in Zoology.  Though she was an essential member of the Zoology teaching team, and Senior Tutor at New Hall (now Murray Edwards College), Janet herself was never a University Teaching Officer – and so this award is about recognizing non-UTO supervisors and the extraordinary contribution they make to our Part 2 class, and to the life of the Department.

Over the past few months we’ve asked Part 2 students and module organisers to send in their nominations. The response has been fantastic, but didn’t allow us to single out just one winner. So instead, this year – the first year of the award – we decided to make two awards, with both winners receiving, as well as the Department’s deep gratitude, a cheque for £100, made possible thanks to the generous support of past and present staff and students.

The first of the inaugural awards goes to Emma Garnett, for her contributions to applied ecology. Her lucky supervisees told us “Emma has been an absolutely phenomenal supervisor. She is always very engaging and obviously enthusiastic, and prepares extremely well for each of her supervisions which translates into us as students wanting to prepare just as well in order to get the most out of our time with her.” Unfortunately Emma can’t be with us this afternoon – she’s involved in interviews down in London – but I understand she’s especially thrilled to share in the prize, as by complete coincidence Janet was, it turns out, a long-long family friend, ever since she interviewed Emma’s mum for a place at New Hall (a lovely reflection, I think of the profound impact Janet had on so many people’s lives).

The second of our inaugural winners - Rick Thompson – is, I’m glad to say, able to be here today. Rick this year supervised most of the M1 and L1 palaeontology modules, as well as doing lots of 1A and 1B teaching, with his students saying “Rick has really made me appreciate the course”; “he's always very engaging, well prepared, and always provides great feedback”; and “Rick’s supervisions are by far the best I’ve had”. So please join me in congratulating Rick on his award of the Janet Moore Prize, and in thanking him for all he’s done in supervising students this year, and indeed over all the time he’s been in the Department.'