Frederic Fairfield Memorial Award

The Fairfield Award is given to a student at each Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals in memory of Frederic Fairfield, a marine mammal scientist who had a passion for innovative research methods. The purpose of the award is to recognize and support young scientists (students) who have developed or applied pioneering techniques or research tools for studying marine mammals. All students who indicate that wish to be considered for student awards on the Biennial Conference abstract submission form will be considered for the award. Only those individuals who are directly involved with the award are excluded. Both poster and oral presentations will be considered. The work may be either field, laboratory or a combination. The award winner will be determined based on the submitted abstract and on the content and quality of the presentation. This award differs from the other student awards given by the Society for Marine Mammalogy in that the emphasis is on innovative methodology and the potential for making significant advances in our knowledge of marine mammals rather than on the results per se. The winner of the award will be announced at the awards session on the last afternoon of the Biennial Conference. The award includes a monetary sum and a banquet ticket.

2019 Winners:
Steffen De Vreese
The unprecedented sensitivity of the external ear canal of odontocetes, evolutionary adaptation, functional morphology, and histopathology

Pauline Goulet
The quick and the dead: Novel sonar tags reveal predator-prey interactions in southern elephant seals.

Jessica Kendall-Bar
Novel, non-invasive methods for neurophysiological monitoring during rest behaviour in phocids.

2017 Winners:
Chris McKnight (Winner)
Shedding new light on diving physiology: Using non-invasive near-infrared light spectroscopy to measure haemodynamics and oxygenation in the brain and blubber of free-swimming seals. (Read abstract here.)

Casey Clarke (Runner-up)
Braving the elements: Investigating Pacific walrus life history and movements using trace elements in teeth. (Read abstract here.)