Dr Sarah Pryke, Macquarie University
01 September 2011
Life and love amongst the finches
Sarah Pryke is a post-doctoral fellow of the Centre for the Integrative Study of Animal Behaviour at Macquarie University in Sydney and works in the Kimberley’s investigating the impact of colour on the behaviour of the Gouldian finch, a small, dazzling bird of Australia’s tropical savannah.
Her L’Oréal For Women In Science was used to get a better understanding of their mating success – information that could be crucial to the survival of these endangered birds.
Qualifications
2007-2009 ARC Postdoctoral Fellowship Centre for the Integrative Study of Animal Behaviour, Macquarie University
2004-2007 NewSouth Global Postdoctoral Fellow School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales
2003 PhD Department of Animal Ecology, Göteborg University, Sweden
1999 BSc honours cum laude School of Botany and Zoology, University of Natal, South Africa
1996-1998 BSc cum laude University of Natal, South Africa
Career highlights
2006 The Christer Hemborg Lecture, Uppsala University, Sweden (Invited lecture for an early career researcher in evolutionary biology)
2004 Pitelka Award, International Society for Behavioural Ecology, Jyväskylä, Finland (awarded for best paper in behavioural ecology at the ISBE Congress)
2002 S2A3 Gold Medal Award, awarded by the University of Natal for top Master’s thesis, South Africa
1999 NEBS Top Honours Thesis, awarded by the National Evolutionary Biology Society, South Africa
1999 Dean’s Commendation, awarded for first class grades by the Dean of the Faculty of Science: Honours (1999), Third Year (1998), Second Year (1997), First Year (1996)
Grants awarded
2007-2009 Australian Research Council Discovery Grant (DP0770889) CI: Dr SR Pryke (APD)
2006-2008 Australian Research Council Linkage Grant (LP0667562) CI: Dr SC Griffith; Dr SR Pryke; A/Prof WA Buttemer
2005-2006 Australian Academy of Science Award for Research on the Conservation of Endangered Native Animals
2004- 2007 NewSouth Global Postdoctoral Fellowship, Australia University of New South Wales, Sydney
2004-2007 Claude Leon Harris Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship (Royal Society) (Note: funding declined in favour of NSG Fellowship)
2004-2006 National Research Foundation Prestigious Postdoctoral Fellowship, South Africa (Note: funding declined in favour of NSG Fellowship)
2000-2003 STINT International Scholarship for Academic Excellence (PhD funding), Sweden
2001-2003 NRF Prestigious Scholarship for Doctoral Study Abroad, South Africa
1999 NRF Honours Scholarship, South Africa
