Dr James Fawcett Fund Awardees

Dr. James Fawcett Fund Awardees

Auckland Museum Announces 2021 Dr. James Fawcett Fund Recipients

In September 2021 Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum announced the inaugural funding round of the Dr James Fawcett Postgraduate Herpetological Awards, which has now been granted to two recipients.

The 2021 Awardees are Sarah Lamar (PhD Candidate at Victoria University of Wellington – Te Herenga Waka) whose research will explore the variation in sperm characteristics and their implications in tuatara conservation, and Dr Richelle Butcher (Master of Vet Studies in Zoo Animal and Wildlife Health at Massey University and Wildbase Hospital) who will examine the prevalence and diversity of pathogens that can cause disease in native New Zealand lizards.

Dr James Fawcett was a life-long member of the Auckland Museum Institute and was a founding member of the World Congress of Herpetology in 1982, representing New Zealand. He was committed to assisting student research throughout his career. The research fund has been enabled by a bequest from James (with thanks to Georgene Fawcett).

Rebecca Bray, Senior Collection Manager of Auckland Museum’s Natural Sciences collections, says, “We are thrilled to be able to share this gift from the Fawcett family with both Sarah and Richelle. Their areas of research will expand our scientific knowledge of New Zealand’s native species.”

Supported and mentored by Auckland Museum staff, the two research projects will align to the Museum’s research strategy including fields such as biodiversity, evolutionary biology, collections research, taxonomy, ecology, mātauranga Māori, social sciences and archaeology.