2025 Brisbane - University of Queensland

Postgraduate

Jamiema Philip
Philip, J. S., S. Grewal, J. Scadden, C. Puente-Lelievre, N. J. Matzke, L. McNally, and M. A. B. Baker. 2025. Mapping the loss of flagellar motility across the tree of life. ISME J 19:wraf111.

Postdoc

Paul Battlay
Battlay, P., B. T. Hendrickson, J. I. Mendez-Reneau, et al. and N. J. Kooyers. 2025. Haploblocks contribute to parallel climate adaptation following global invasion of a cosmopolitan plant. Nat Ecol Evol 9:1441–1455.

Kris Wild
Wild, K. H., R. B. Huey, E. R. Pianka, S. Clusella-Trullas, A. L. Gilbert, D. B. Miles, and M. R. Kearney. 2025. Climate change and the cost-of-living squeeze in desert lizards. Science 387:303–309.

2024 Perth - University of Western Australia

Postgraduate

Sara Ryding, Deakin University
Ryding, S., A. McQueen, M. Klaassen, G. J. Tattersall, and M. R. E. Symonds. 2024. Long- and short-term responses to climate change in body and appendage size of diverse Australian birds. Global Change Biology 30:e17517. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17517

Postdoc

Maddie James, University of Queensland
James, M. E., R. N. Allsopp, J. S. Groh, A. Kaur, M. J. Wilkinson, and D. Ortiz-Barrientos. 2023. Uncovering the genetic architecture of parallel evolution. Molecular Ecology 32:5575–5589. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.17134

2023 Adelaide - University of Adelaide

Postgraduate

Claudia Crowther, University of New South Wales
Crowther, C., Bonser, S. P., & Schwanz, L. E. (2023). Plasticity and the adaptive evolution of switchlike reaction norms under environmental change. Evolution Letters, qrad035. doi.org/10.1093/evlett/qrad035

Postdoc

Samuel Lymbery, Murdoch University
Lymbery, S. J., Webber, B. L., & Didham, R. K. (2023). Complex battlefields favor strong soldiers over large armies in social animal warfare. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(37), e2217973120. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2217973120

2020 - 2022 no best paper award

2019 Sydney - UNSW

Postgraduate awards

Emily Roycroft, University of Melbourne
Roycroft, E.J., A. Moussalli, K.C. Rowe. 2019. Phylogenomics Uncovers Confidence and Conflict in the Rapid Radiation of Australo-Papuan Rodents. Systematic Biology doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syz044

Damien Esquerré, Australian National University
Esquerré, D., I.G. Brennan, R.A. Catullo, F. Torres‐Pérez, J. S. Keogh. 2019. How mountains shape biodiversity: The role of the Andes in biogeography, diversification, and reproductive biology in South America’s most species‐rich lizard radiation (Squamata: Liolaemidae). Evolution 73: 214-230

Erin Macartney, University of New South Wales
Macartney, E.L., A. J. Crean, S.Nakagawa, R. Bonduriansky. 2019. Effects of nutrient limitation on sperm and seminal fluid: a systematic review and meta‐analysis. Biological Reviews https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12524

Postdoc award

Oliver Griffith, ARC DECRA Fellow (Melbourne University)

Award statement: “Dr. Oliver Griffith research uses wildlife models to address critical questions in ecology and evolution. Most notably, he aims to address how mutation and selection support the evolution of complex traits in animals, such as the evolution of new organs. To achieve this, his research integrates genomics, developmental biology, ecology, and ecophysiology using terrestrial vertebrates. His current projects use genetic, genomic, and cell biology techniques to identify how complex components of pregnancy have evolved”

ECR Award in 2019 is based on a body of work rather than a single paper.