Congratulations to Dr Charles Emogor and Professor Stephen Montgomery, winners of prestigious awards at the Zoological Society of London’s annual awards ceremony yesterday.

Professor Montgomery was awarded the Society's Scientific Medal for outstanding contributions to zoology by an early career researcher. 

Professor Montgomery was a PhD student here and will return to Cambridge next summer to take up the Prince Philip Professorship in Ecology and Evolution.  He researches how nervous systems evolve, how they define the way that individuals behave and how this contributes to the evolution of biodiversity. The ZSL awarding committee said that, 'Stephen’s innovative research and inclusive leadership make him an outstanding candidate for the ZSL Scientific Medal.'  Professor Montgomery thanked the brilliant students, postdocs and supportive collaborators he works with, and went on to say, "it is immensely gratifying, and a bit bewildering, to join the impressive list of previous winners.”

Dr Emogor won the Thomas Henry Huxley Award for the best PhD thesis submitted by a university in the UK. His research on the dynamics of threats to pangolin was supervised by Professor Andrew Balmford here in Zoology and funded by the Gates Cambridge Trust (via the Gates Cambridge Scholarship). He is passionate about pangolins; not only did he found the Pangolin Protection Network, but in 2021 he ran in a pangolin suit for 8 hours (one for each pangolin species), covering 55 kms to raise awareness of pangolins and funds for their conservation.

Dr Emogor said he was incredibly grateful to Rebecca Kilner and Andrew Balmford for putting his name forward for the award and added, "This award reflects Andrew’s exceptional support throughout my PhD and the contributions of many brilliant collaborators, including my field team."

Our Head of Department, Professor Rebecca Kilner, congratulated them on their awards and said, “I’m thrilled that the work of the Department has been recognised in this way and proud that we are all helping to nurture a new generation of world-class researchers in Zoology.”

Read more: Winners of prestigious conservation awards announced (ZSL website)

Images: Left: Dr Charles Emogor (photo by Alex Moore) Right: Professor Stephen Montgomery