PRESS RELEASE
The Royal Entomological Society is proud to announce the awarding of its highest distinction – Honorary Fellowship – to four outstanding individuals in recognition of their exceptional lifetime achievements in insect science and their significant contributions to the global entomological community.
Honorary Fellowship is the highest honour bestowed by the Society, recognising individuals who have demonstrated excellence in advancing entomology and its applications, or who have provided outstanding service to the Society and the wider scientific community. Following a rigorous nomination and evaluation process led by the Membership Committee and Council, we’d like you to join us in welcoming the following four distinguished scientists as our newest Honorary Fellows.
Professor Michael Samways Hon.FRES (South Africa)
“I have been a Fellow of the RES since the mid-1970s when I was a research student in London. I was so inspired meeting such dedicated entomologists of the time and their wonderful imparting of knowledge and enthusiasm. One highlight was Miriam Rothschild telling me all about her insect flower garden, which inspired me so much that I decided to dedicate my life to insect conservation.
Since then, I have had the privilege to engage with many young people and see them grow to make significant contributions to insect conservation across several parts of the world.
In short, I accept this wonderful opportunity to pursue an ambassadorial role on behalf of the Society. Thank you!”
– Professor Michael Samways Hon.FRES
Michael Samways (South Africa) obtained his PhD from London University and currently is Emeritus Distinguished Professor at the Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa and Member of the Academy of Science of South Africa. He focuses on all aspects of insect conservation, both nationally and internationally.
Michael is recipient of the John Herschel Medal of the Royal Society of South Africa, the Senior Captain Scott and Gold Medals of the South African Academy of Science and Arts, and Gold Medal of the Academy of Science of South Africa. He received the life-time Stellenbosch University Chancellor’s Award, and IUCN/Species Survival Commission Chair’s Citation of Excellence. He and his team, the Mondi Ecological Networks Programme were Winner of the NSTF-South32 Award. Michael also received the Marsh Award from the Royal Entomological Society.
He has 453 scientific papers, 77 book chapters, and 94 popular articles. His major books are Biological Control of Pests and Weeds 1981 Edward Arnold, Insect Conservation Biology 1994 Chapman & Hall, Insect Diversity Conservation 2005 Cambridge University Press, Tropical Island Recovery 2010 Wiley, Insect Conservation: Approaches and Methods 2010 Oxford University Press, Insect Conservation: A Global Synthesis 2020 CABI, and Conservation of Dragonflies: Sentinels for Freshwater Conservation 2024 CABI/RES.
Professor Rosemary Collier Hon.FRES (United Kingdom)
“This is indeed a great honour, and surprise, and one that I’m not sure I especially deserve, as although I have been fortunate to be a working entomologist throughout my career, I have devoted most of my ‘spare’ time to activities more focused on insects in horticulture than on entomology per se.
That said, I am delighted to become an Honorary Fellow of the Society. Thank you!”
– Professor Rosemary Collier Hon.FRES
Rosemary Collier studied for a BSc in Zoology, an MSc in Applied Entomology and a PhD looking at a group of pest caterpillars, the cutworms. In 2010 she was appointed Director of Warwick Crop Centre and in 2019 she was appointed Professor at the University of Warwick, UK.
In 2011 Collier received the Marsh Horticultural Science Award from the Marsh Christian Trust in recognition of her undertaking important research in the field of horticulture. Rosemary was awarded the Royal Horticultural Society’s Veitch Memorial Medal in 2018 for outstanding contribution to advancing the science and practice of horticulture.
Rosemary was awarded an OBE in the New Years Honours in 2025. Rosemary is a fellow of the Royal Entomological Society, having joined the Society in 1982.
Professor Lars Chittka Hon.FRES (United Kingdom)
“Thank you so much to the Royal Entomological Society – what a wonderful honour! I am so privileged to work with the aliens from inner space that are the insects. Their strangeness and sophistication has captivated me since I first looked inside a beehive. After nearly 40 years of trying to understand insect minds, I feel we have only just scraped the surface.
I want to especially thank all the young people who have joined my team from all over the world in this crazy endeavour to understand the psychology of insects – the future is theirs and they will hopefully succeed in the comprehensive understanding of how minds are generated from these elegant, tiny microcomputers, the insect brains.“
– Professor Lars Chittka Hon.FRES
Lars Chittka is a German zoologist and ecologist distinguished for his work on the evolution of sensory systems and cognition, using insect-flower interactions as a model.
Lars studied Biology at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen and the Free University of Berlin. He obtained his PhD degree at the Free University of Berlin. He is a recipient of the Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award and an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). He is also member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the Academia Europaea, an elected Fellow of the Linnean Society (FLS), the Royal Entomological Society (FRES) as well as the Royal Society of Biology (FRSB). Lars joined the RES in 2004.
He received the Lesley Goodman Award of the Royal Entomological Society in 2006. Lars Chittka has been an Editor of Biology’s foremost open access journal PLoS Biology since 2004, and has also been on the Editorial Board of Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B (2010–2012) and the Quarterly Review of Biology (2004–2010); He is the author of the book “The Mind of a Bee” (translated into 13 languages), has released the music album “Strange Flowers” (on Bandcamp) with lyrics dedicated to, and inspired by, the world of bees, and won Best Actor award for his role in the film “The Last Bee” by director Osseily Hanna at the Amsterdam New Cinema Festival. He was a Panel Chairman for the European Research Council (2010– 2013), and is also the founder of the Research Centre for Psychology at Queen Mary University of London, where he is a Professor of Sensory and Behavioural Ecology.
Dr Rosemary Sang Hon.FRES (Kenya)
“Thank you to the Royal Entomological Society and its president Professor Jane Stout for this great honour bestowed on me. I recognise that this is a very prestigious Society that I have been invited to be part of. I do so with pride and sense of duty.”
– Dr Rosemary Sang Hon.FRES
Dr Rosemary Sang is a Principal Research Scientist in the Arbovirology/VHF Unit, CVR/KEMRI, and a consultant scientist at icipe. She is an arbvovirologist with vast experience on arbovirus surveillance, outbreak response and investigations in support of the Ministry of Public Health, Government of Kenya, and the World Health Organization. Rosemary has been a member of several Expert Committees for the World Health Organization, including on International Health Regulation, and Rift Valley fever. She was elected a Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences in 2014.
Dr Sang holds a PhD in Medical entomology (PhD), and an MSc in Medical Virology (MSc). She has co-ordinated the Arbovirus Incidence and Diversity Project (AVID) spearheaded by icipe. She has also conducted extensive surveillance in Kenya and determined the risk of arbovirus transmission to diverse populations in the country and also participated in major arbovirus outbreak investigations in the region and is currently working on a number of projects looking into improving our understanding of virus, vector and environmental interactions in disease maintenance and transmission, and has published extensively in the field. Dr Sang has also mentored many students at MSc, PhD and Postdoctoral levels.
About the Royal Entomological Society
The Royal Entomological Society is devoted to the advancement and dissemination of knowledge about insects. Through its publications, events, and outreach activities, the Society supports scientific excellence and promotes the vital role of entomology in addressing global challenges.
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