The Insect Conservation Award recognises outstanding contributions to the conservation of insects and other invertebrates.
Applications for this award are open.
Check the Key Dates section for submission deadlines.
Large Blue butterfly, Gloucestershire 2024 – photo by David Simcox
The award is intended to highlight and celebrate significant achievements that help protect and preserve insect species, habitats, and ecosystems.
Insects are fundamental to ecosystem functioning, and their conservation is crucial to the health of natural environments and agriculture.
The award acknowledges individuals or teams who have made a substantial, long-term impact on insect conservation, whether through scientific research, public engagement, habitat restoration, or policy work.
RES Insect Conservation Award at a Glance
| Prize | – £400
– Certificate
– Free RES membership for one year |
| Purpose | This award highlights and celebrates significant achievements that help protect and preserve insect species, habitats, and ecosystems. |
| Eligibility | Any individual or team whose contribution to insect conservation aligns with the award criteria.
The award is open to RES Members and Non-Members worldwide. |
| Key dates | Applications are currently closed and will reopen in 2026, exact dates tbc. |
| Decision body | RES Science, Policy & Society Committee |
Application Guidance
Please read the information below carefully before applying for this award, paying particular attention to the assessment criteria.
Objectives
The RES Insect Conservation Award aims to:
- Promote awareness of the importance of conserving insect species and the ecosystems they inhabit.
- Recognise individuals or teams who have made an outstanding contribution to insect conservation, whether through research, fieldwork, public policy, or community engagement.
- Celebrate efforts that have demonstrated tangible impacts on the conservation of insect biodiversity and the promotion of sustainable practices.
- Encourage collaboration between scientists, conservationists, land managers, policy makers, and the public to address the challenges facing insect conservation.
Eligibility
The Insect Conservation Award is open to any individual or team whose contribution to insect conservation aligns with the award criteria.
Contributions may include – but are not limited to – scientific research, conservation fieldwork, public outreach and engagement, habitat restoration projects, and influencing public policy on conservation.
Members and Non-Members worldwide may apply
Nominations may be made by a third party or as a self-nomination.
Assessment Criteria
- Lifetime Achievement or Significant Contribution: The nominee should have demonstrated a lifelong commitment or made an exemplary contribution to a specific conservation project or undertaking that has significantly impacted insect conservation.
- Impact on Biodiversity: The nominee’s work should have had tangible, positive impacts on insect biodiversity, such as the restoration of habitats, recovery of endangered species, or the promotion of sustainable practices that benefit insect populations.
- Innovation and Collaboration: Consideration will be given to the nominee’s use of innovative approaches and their ability to collaborate with other organisations, stakeholders, and communities in conservation efforts.
- Advocacy and Education: Has the nominee played a significant role in raising public awareness or educating others about the importance of insect conservation? Contributions to conservation policy, public engagement, and outreach will be viewed favourably.
Prize
- £400
- Certificate
- RES membership for one year
Key Dates
Applications are currently open for the following period:
Open for applications: 22 June 2026
Closing: 30 November 2026
Thank you for your interest in the Insect Conservation Award.
Previous winners of the Insect Conservation Award
Dr Úna Fitzpatrick – 2022 Winner
Dr Úna Fitzpatrick, from the National Biodiversity Data Centre in Ireland, has been involved in insect conservation in Ireland and globally for almost 20 years, and has had a huge and transformative role in recording, promoting and conserving insects in that time.
Una has had an impressive and varied career to date bridging the gap between ecology, citizen science, the general public and conservation.
Read about Dr Úna Fitzpatrick
Dr Úna Fitzpatrick, from the National Biodiversity Data Centre in Ireland, has been instrumental in increasing insect knowledge and capacity, in particular for bees and other pollinators. In addition to managing the national database of records for bees and hoverflies, Una has had a leading role in training and capacity building of biological recorders. She regularly blogs and interacts with the media to spread awareness about biodiversity and insect recording in Ireland to the general public.
Una has been involved in insect conservation in Ireland and globally for almost 20 years, and has had a huge and transformative role in recording, promoting and conserving insects in that time. Una has had an impressive and varied career to date bridging the gap between ecology, citizen science, the general public and conservation.
Following a degree in Botany, her PhD focussed on plant genetics based on islands in the South Pacific. On finishing her PhD she became also interested in insects, and worked to produce some of the seminal work on bee diversity in Ireland, including the first National Red List of bees ever published (Fitzpatrick et al. 2006) as well as some of the first published literature on bee decline in Ireland (Fitzpatrick et al. 2007b, Fitzpatrick et al. 2007a).
Since 2007, Una has worked as an Ecologist and then Senior Ecologist at the National Biodiversity Data Centre – Ireland’s central repository for national biodiversity data and GBIF node (www.biodiversityireland.ie).Since this time, Una has been an inspiration to biodiversity recorders and citizen scientists around Ireland, and a driving force in national interest in biodiversity, biodiversity monitoring and conservation.
Professor Craig Macadam – 2026 Winner
“Being nominated for a Royal Entomological Society award is, first and foremost, a humbling experience. When you spend the better part of four decades with your head in a river or poring over identification keys, recognition from peers within the entomological community means a great deal. But beyond the personal significance, recognition of this kind has genuine practical value.
One of the persistent challenges in invertebrate conservation is visibility. Awards and nominations from respected bodies like the Royal Entomological Society lend credibility and profile to the work in ways that open doors with funders, with policymakers, and with the wider public. When you can point to externally recognised expertise, it strengthens the case we make in policy discussions and reinforces the trust that partner organisations place in us.
There is also a broader signalling effect that matters enormously. Every time invertebrate conservation is recognised at a prestigious level, it sends a message that these species and the people working to protect them belong at the top table of environmental science and policy. That helps to shift the perception, gradually but meaningfully, that insects are somehow a lesser conservation priority.
On a personal level, it provides a moment to reflect on what has been achieved collectively. The work I do is only possible because of the extraordinary network of volunteers, colleagues, and partner organisations who share the same passion. In many ways, a nomination feels like an acknowledgement of that whole community’s efforts.”
Read about Professor Craig Macadam
Professor Craig Macadam is one of the UK’s leading freshwater entomologists and invertebrate conservation specialists. He is currently Conservation Director at Buglife – The Invertebrate Conservation Trust, where he leads conservation programmes focused on protecting threatened invertebrates and their habitats, particularly freshwater ecosystems.
Craig has spent more than three decades studying aquatic invertebrates, with particular expertise in mayflies (Ephemeroptera), stoneflies (Plecoptera) and other riverflies. He serves as the UK National Recorder for mayflies and stoneflies, is a founder member of the Riverfly Partnership, and co-chairs the IUCN Mayfly, Stonefly and Caddisfly Specialist Group.
Among his notable research interests are the conservation of the Upland Summer Mayfly (Ameletus inopinatus), investigations into climate change impacts on montane freshwater insects, and studies of the Northern February Red Stonefly (Brachyptera putata), a species now believed to be restricted to rivers in northern Scotland.
He has authored numerous identification guides, delivered freshwater invertebrate training across the UK, and helped develop citizen science approaches to river monitoring. His work has been instrumental in raising the profile of freshwater invertebrates within conservation policy and practice.
Dr Robert Pyleick – 2022 Winner
Dr Robert (Bob) Pyle Hon.FRES is a poet and general author of note, winner of various literary prizes including a Guggenheim Fellowship. He is an American lepidopterist, writer, teacher, and founder of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.
Bob Pyle is revered as one of the ‘big three’ pioneers of global butterfly conservation. He has also taught, lectured and inspired others repeatedly across Europe, as various nations ‘discovered’ and grew concerned about declining butterfly populations.
Read about Dr Robert Pyleick
Dr Robert (Bob) Pyle Hon.FRES is a poet and general author of note, winner of various literary prizes including a Guggenheim Fellowship. He is an American lepidopterist, writer, teacher, and founder of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. Much of his life story is told in the 2020 feature film The Dark Divide, where Pyle is played by David Cross.
Among the books where he brings art and literature to insect natural history are The Art of the Butterfly; Nabokov’s Butterflies; and Chasing Monarchs: A Migration with the Butterflies of Passage (1999), the last an unusual combination of original research presented as a popular book, in which he tracked the southerly migration of western Monarchs over many weeks, thereby demonstrating for the first time that certain individuals crossed the Rockies, providing mixing of the eastern and western populations, which had hitherto been considered separate and more vulnerable.
During three years in 1979-82 at the IUCN/WWF’s international Conservation Monitoring Centre at Cambridge, UK, Bob co-compiled (with Sue Wells) and co-authored the first IUCN Invertebrate Red Data Book, which laid the blueprint for all subsequent global assessments. He then spent two years establishing butterfly conservation in Papua New Guinea – where it was pretty much unknown – including the sustainable breeding of common species for butterfly farms and the conservation of Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing. In Australia, Bob Pyle is revered as one of the ‘big three’ pioneers of global butterfly conservation. He has also taught, lectured and inspired others repeatedly across Europe, as various nations ‘discovered’ and grew concerned about declining butterfly populations.
Professor Claire Kremen – 2021 Winner
Professor Claire Kremen Hon.FRES, The University of British Columbia, for her outstanding contribution to insect conservation on the basis of lifetime achievement.
Prof Kremen is an ecologist and applied conservation biologist working on how to reconcile agricultural land use with biodiversity conservation.
Professor Teja Tscharntke – 2020 Winner
Professor Teja Tscharntke, University of Gottingen, for his outstanding contribution to insect conservation on the basis of lifetime achievement.
Most of Prof Tscharntke’s researches are focused on insects and their ecosystem functions (pollination, biological pest control) with the ultimate aim of their conservation, starting with basic researches such as studies on gall-inducing insect communities of common reed in his early career, and spanning to multidisciplinary studies linking socioeconomic with ecological approaches also in the tropics. He was the first major inventor of trap nests in ecological researches forstdying interactions, such as pollination, parasitism and predation.
Dr Mark Young – 2020 Joint Winner
Joint award to Dr Mark Young and the late David Barbour – for their outstanding contributions to insect conservation on the basis of lifetime achievement.
Dr Mark Young is seen, without doubt, as Scotland’s foremost microlepidopterist and one of the most eminent microlepidopterists in the UK. He has made significant contributions to understanding the ecology, distributions and conservation of microlepidoptera across the UK but particularly in Scotland (e.g. Young 1996:; Langmaid et al. 2018). Mark has acted as moth recorder for Aberdeenshire and Kincardineshire for more than forty years – contributing and verifying thousands of records for the national recording scheme and North East Scotland Biological Records Centre (NESBReC). As one of Scotland’s leading insect conservationalists, Mark’s knowledge and opinion is greatly valued.He is also passionate about passing on his knowledge to younger generations of lepidopterists and entomologists by leading field course and identification workshops and through initiatives such as the Conservation Volunteers and Aberdeen Entomological LCub.
David Barbour – 2020 Joint Winner
Joint award to the late David Barbour and also to Dr Mark Young – for their outstanding contributions to insect conservation on the basis of lifetime achievement.
David Barbour was an entomologist who made a major contribution to the conservation of Scottish butterflies and moths, notably the New Forest burnet Zygoena ciciae. Thought to be extinct, probably as a result of excessive collecting in the New Forest, a population was discovered in Argyll in the 1960’s. After a serious decline in the 1980’s, intervention by David and Mark Young resulted in its successful recovery, and it remains the only known population in the UK (Young and Barbour, 2004: Mark Young pers. comm.). David worked as an independent consultant for many years after leaving the Forestry Commssion. His understanding of forestry and land management generally made him well aware of the pressures on biodiversitty and the need to find practical solutions for insect conservation alongside other land uses.
Professor Michael Samways – 2019 Winner
Professor Michael Samways, University of Stellenbosch, for his outstanding contribution to insect conservation on the basis of lifetime achievement.
Professor Samways focuses on all aspects of insect conservation, both nationally, and internationally. He has been named as one of the Legends of South African Science by the South African Academy of Science of South Africa.
Mike Edwards – 2018 Winner
Mr Mike Edwards for his outstanding contribution to insect conservation on the basis of lifetime achievement.
Mike Edwards has been at the forefront of the study of the aculeate Hymenoptera (bees, wasps and ants) for the best part of 40 years and has been hugely involved with the popularisation of the group, as well as making a substantial contribution to the conservation of other insects.
Professor Vojtech Novotny – 2018 Overseas Winner
Professor Vojtech Novotny, Overseas winner, for his outstanding contribution to insect conservation on the basis of lifetime achievement.
Professor Novotny is an entomologist at the Czech Academy of Sciences, Ceske Budejovice. He divides his time between his home institution in the Czech Republic and the New Guinea Binatang Research Centre (BRC), near Madang, Papua New Guine (PNG). Professor Novotny has directed BRC since the 1990’s and has built the country’s premier field research facility.
Dr Mike Morris – 2017 winner
The late Dr Mike Morris for his outstanding contribution to insect conservation on the basis of lifetime achievement.
Mike Morris began his career as the V H Blackman Research Scholar at East Malling Research Station before joining Monks Wood, where he spent 15 years researching conservation ecology. He developed innovative field experiments to understand how grassland management can support diverse insect communities, particularly on calcareous soils.
He later held senior roles at the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology while continuing influential research and conservation work. After retiring, he became an honorary Scientific Associate at the Natural History Museum, London, specialising in weevils and producing poublications such as five acclaimed RES Handbooks for the identification of British Insects. His important private collection of the weevils of Europe and the Canary Islands has been accepted for incorporation into that of the NHM after death.
Read about Dr Mike Morris
After 3 years as the V H Blackman Research Scholar in East Malling Research Station, Mike joined the Nature Conservancy’s new research lab at Monks Wood (later NERC’s Institute of Terrestrial Ecology), where he spent 15 years (1961-76) on research into conservation ecology, notably devising innovative field experiments to explore how different types of grassland management can restore and maintain distinctive species-rich-assemblages of insects, especially on lowland calcareous soils.
For the rest of his career – 1976 to retirement in 1994 at the then obligatory age in government service of 60 – Mike Morris was Head of Furzebrook Research Station and ultimately Acting Director of ITE, as well as ITE’s Head of Invertebrate Ecology since 1976. During this second, more managerial period of career, he nevertheless published a stream of important papers in high-ranking journals describing his continuing experiments to maximise insect biodiversity in UK grasslands. In addition, he was exceedingly effective in pursuing ‘extra-mural’ conservation initiatives focused on insects via a series of key positions in learned societies etc, several involving the Royal Entomological Society.
After retirement, Mike became ever more involved in these latter activities and was also appointed (honorary) Scientific Associate at The Natural History Museum, London, combining research and curation of Coleoptera collections, a position he holds to this day. During this time he has pursued his first love of studying ecology, distribution, status and especially taxonomy of British and European weevils, exemplified by his five acclaimed RES Handbooks for the identification of British Insects, each devoted to a major group within this huge super-family (Curculionoidea) of beetles. His important private collection of the weevils of Europe and the Canary Islands has been accepted for incorporation into that of the NHM after death.
Previous winners:
- Dr Phil Sterling – 2016
- Dr David Sheppard – 2015
- The Malloch Society – 2014
- Peter Harvey – 2013
- Steven Falk – 2012
- Dr Steve Cham – 2011
- Dr Roger Key – 2010
- Dr David Lonsdale – 2009
- Professor Garth Foster – 2008
- Dr Martin Speight – 2007
- Dr Martin Warren – 2006
- Dr Keith Alexander – 2005
- Alan Stubbs – 2004
- Dr Tim New – 2003
- Dr Norman Moore – 2002
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