Team award: John Scott wins 2016 CAWS medal

John Scott wins the Council of the Australasian Weeds Societies (CAWS) medal for leadership.

John Scott, an Honorary Fellow in the Ecosystem Change Ecology team, was awarded the 2016 Council of the Australasian Weeds Societies (CAWS) Medal for Leadership last night.

The CAWS Medal for Leadership is awarded for outstanding contributions to weed management in Australasia. This is a prestigious award with, on average, no more than two medals being awarded at each Australasian Weeds Conference.  The award recognises a contribution to the science, technology and practice of weed management through research, teaching, administration, extension and implementation of programs, which is:

• outstanding, in that the contribution is recognised by peers to be exemplary in substance, objectives, methods and results;
• influential on the work of others;
• sustained over a long time, perhaps ten years or more;
• substantial in that the contribution is broadly based across several categories listed above; and
• national in its impact.

John has had a distinguished career in the weed sciences, spanning over 35 years and three continents. His ability to have impact at the leading edge of weed research combined with a track record of on-ground outcomes through extension and program implementation has seen John nationally recognised as a leader in the ecology and management of invasive plants. John specialises in weeds that originated from around the Mediterranean basin and from southern Africa. He has particular interest in the use of biological control as a management tool and the potential impact of future climate change scenarios upon these invasive species.

John continues to make significant contributions to weed science as part of the Ecosystem Change Ecology team via research, advisory panel appointments and student supervision.

Read more about John’s weed career here.