The Irene Manton Prize

£1,000 and a piece of fine art for the best doctoral thesis in botany (algae, fungi or plants).

Awarded for the best thesis in botany examined for a doctorate of philosophy. It is open to candidates whose research has been carried out whilst registered at any UK institution. Nominations are received from the Head of Department, or the supervisor of the candidate.

The next round of nominations for this award will open in May 2025.

• Open to PhD candidates whose doctorate has been awarded during the previous 18 months (from closing date of nomination).
• PhD candidate can be any nationality, but research to have been carried out whilst registered at a UK institution
• The thesis must be of outstanding quality and be on any aspect of botany (e.g. embracing algae, fungi or plants)
• Nominations to be made by the Head of Department or supervisor of the candidate
• Up to two candidates may be nominated per department
• Nominee cannot, at the time of nomination, be a member of Council
• Nominee does not need to be a Fellow of the Society
• We do not accept self-nominations
  

Evaluation criteria will include (scores in parentheses):

1. Writing and organisation (0-10)
2. Presentation (format, illustrations) (0-10)
3. Intrinsic interest of question (0-20)
4. Contextualization of problem (0-10)
5. Quantity of data collected (0-10)
6. Quality of data collected (0-10)
7. Data analysis (0-20)
8. Discussion depth and breadth (0-10)
9. Published papers (0-10)

Dr Tin Hang (Henry) Hung

The 2024 winner of the Irene Manton Prize is Dr Tin Hang (Henry) Hung for his thesis ‘Ecological genomics and adaptation of rosewoods Dalbergia cochinchinensis and D. oliveri for conservation and restoration’.

The thesis studies two threatened rosewood species which are illegally exploited for their valuable timber in the Greater Mekong Subregion, becoming the world’s most trafficked wild product between 2005 and 2014. The landscape genomic analysis of this outstanding thesis was one of the very first studies of adaptive genetic variation in tropical endangered tree species. Cutting-edge technologies were used to assemble the genomes and genotype more than 700 trees, predicting their fates under climate change. Henry’s work could have an enormous impact on the conservation of these critically endangered species.