SMM Student Awards

Student abstracts and presentations are assessed by a panel of judges and the most outstanding work and presentations are recognized during the end of conference awards ceremony.

Previous Student Conference Award Winners:

2019 World Marine Mammal Conference Global Student Award Winners:

Africa
Sibu Ngqulana
A take on years of wrangling over a controversial taxonomy: Delphinus spp. in South African waters
Jonathan Botha
Geographic and individual-based differences in the trophic ecology of the Cape fur seal

Asia
Sui Hyang Kuit
Ranging patterns of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins (Sousa chinensis) in the Matang Important Marine Mammal Area in Perak, peninsular Malaysia
Mika Kuroda-Matsuo
Clicks-sound production and frequency determining mechanism in the head of small toothed whales; Functional morphology with acoustical interpretation

Europe
Jonas F.L.Schwarz
The deep, the shallow and the indecisive: Foraging strategies of Galápagos sea lions
Katherine Whyte
An evaluation of Mahalanobis distance as a method to detect behavioural response in marine mammals from tag data

North America
Kahlia Gonzales
Female productivity and calf survivorship of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in Bocas, Panama
Heather Barrett
Investigating the energetic cost of human disturbance on the southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis)

Oceania
Kaja Wierucka
Chemical fingerprints suggest direct familiarisation rather than phenotype matching during olfactory recognition in Australian sea lions (Neophoca cinerea)
Laetitia Smoll
Osmoregulation and electrolyte balance in a fully marine mammal, the dugong (Dugong dugon)

South America
Guilherme Frainer
Echo-devo: Ontogeny and evolution of the sound generating structures in dolphins (Odontoceti: Delphinidae)
Larissa Dalpaz de Azevedo
Another brick in the wall: Assessing population structure of Bryde’s whales (Balaenoptera brydei) through a multi-method approach.

ACCOBAMS Student Awards
Alessia Scuderi
How to get mutual benefit for whale watching companies and cetaceans
Alicia Borque Espinosa
Developing a diagnostic tool to assess respiratory health in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) through spirometry

2017 Student Conference Award Winners:

Charlotte Dunn (Video)
Bahamian sperm whales: Smaller than average (Read abstract; Watch video)
Emily Humble (Talk– Pre-doctoral Student) (Read abstract.)
Measuring inbreeding in a declining population of Antarctic fur seals
Charmaine Hamilton (Talk – Doctoral Student) (Read abstract.)
Impacts of sea-ice declines on a pinnacle Arctic predator-prey relationship; habitat, behaviour and spatial overlap between coastal polar bears and ringed seals.
Sarah Strobel (Speed Talk – Pre-doctoral Student) (Read abstract.)
A Behavioural Assessment of Active Touch in Sea Otters: Paw and Whisker Texture Discrimination in Air and Underwater
Kirsten Thompson (Speed Talk – Doctoral Student) (Read abstract.)
Gray’s beaked whales: An elusive but abundant species of the Southern Hemisphere?
Karen Backe (Poster – Pre-doctoral Student) (Read abstract; See poster.)
Effect of sea level rise and storm surge on Pacific harbor seal habitat: A comparison of haul-out changes at the Russian and Eel River Estuaries
Stephen Chan (Poster – Doctoral Student) (Read abstract; See poster.)
Survival or extinction of a declining population? Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins at the brink in Hong Kong and the Pearl River Estuary

2019 World Marine Mammal Conference Global Student Award Winners:

Africa
Sibu Ngqulana
A take on years of wrangling over a controversial taxonomy: Delphinus spp. in South African waters
Jonathan Botha
Geographic and individual-based differences in the trophic ecology of the Cape fur seal

Asia
Sui Hyang Kuit
Ranging patterns of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins (Sousa chinensis) in the Matang Important Marine Mammal Area in Perak, peninsular Malaysia
Mika Kuroda-Matsuo
Clicks-sound production and frequency determining mechanism in the head of small toothed whales; Functional morphology with acoustical interpretation

Europe
Jonas F.L.Schwarz
The deep, the shallow and the indecisive: Foraging strategies of Galápagos sea lions
Katherine Whyte
An evaluation of Mahalanobis distance as a method to detect behavioural response in marine mammals from tag data

North America
Kahlia Gonzales
Female productivity and calf survivorship of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in Bocas, Panama
Heather Barrett
Investigating the energetic cost of human disturbance on the southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis)

Oceania
Kaja Wierucka
Chemical fingerprints suggest direct familiarisation rather than phenotype matching during olfactory recognition in Australian sea lions (Neophoca cinerea)
Laetitia Smoll
Osmoregulation and electrolyte balance in a fully marine mammal, the dugong (Dugong dugon)

South America
Guilherme Frainer
Echo-devo: Ontogeny and evolution of the sound generating structures in dolphins (Odontoceti: Delphinidae)
Larissa Dalpaz de Azevedo
Another brick in the wall: Assessing population structure of Bryde’s whales (Balaenoptera brydei) through a multi-method approach.

ACCOBAMS Student Awards
Alessia Scuderi
How to get mutual benefit for whale watching companies and cetaceans
Alicia Borque Espinosa
Developing a diagnostic tool to assess respiratory health in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) through spirometry

2017 Student Conference Award Winners:

Charlotte Dunn (Video)
Bahamian sperm whales: Smaller than average (Read abstract; Watch video)
Emily Humble (Talk– Pre-doctoral Student) (Read abstract.)
Measuring inbreeding in a declining population of Antarctic fur seals
Charmaine Hamilton (Talk – Doctoral Student) (Read abstract.)
Impacts of sea-ice declines on a pinnacle Arctic predator-prey relationship; habitat, behaviour and spatial overlap between coastal polar bears and ringed seals.
Sarah Strobel (Speed Talk – Pre-doctoral Student) (Read abstract.)
A Behavioural Assessment of Active Touch in Sea Otters: Paw and Whisker Texture Discrimination in Air and Underwater
Kirsten Thompson (Speed Talk – Doctoral Student) (Read abstract.)
Gray’s beaked whales: An elusive but abundant species of the Southern Hemisphere?
Karen Backe (Poster – Pre-doctoral Student) (Read abstract; See poster.)
Effect of sea level rise and storm surge on Pacific harbor seal habitat: A comparison of haul-out changes at the Russian and Eel River Estuaries
Stephen Chan (Poster – Doctoral Student) (Read abstract; See poster.)
Survival or extinction of a declining population? Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins at the brink in Hong Kong and the Pearl River Estuary