University Research Medal Awarded to Prof Robert Jackson
5 November 2004
I am pleased to announce that Professor Robert Jackson from the School of Biological Sciences is the 2004 winner of the University of Canterbury Research Medal. The medal is awarded annually For Excellence in Research and will be presented to Robert at the December graduation ceremony.
Professor Jackson is a world authority on the evolutionary ecology of invertebrates and an internationally recognised expert on the behaviour of spiders. His research career spans 30 years, 26 of which have been spent at the University of Canterbury. In 2000 he was awarded New Zealand's most prestigious award, a Fellowship of the Royal Society of New Zealand. Much of the research in Professor Jackson's laboratory has been concerned with understanding how complex behaviour is organised by animals with a very small nervous system, and what factors influence the evolution of behavioural complexity. In particular he has focussed on the importance of predatory versatility, mimicry, and sexual selection, and on the ways that spiders communicate amongst themselves. Studies of the latter have demonstrated how spider webs, visual stimuli and pheromones act as communicatory mechanisms. Professor Jackson will deliver a public lecture during the first semester of 2005.
Professor Roy Sharp
Vice-Chancellor
University of Canterbury, New Zealand
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