Postdoctoral Fellow Dr Johanna Steyaert has received one of four 2011 Lincoln University Early Career Researcher Awards. These awards recognise research excellence by scientists who are within five years of commencing their research careers. 

Dr Steyaert receives a grant of $5,000 which she will use to fund technical support for her Marsden Fast-Start project, Geomagnetic Calendars: Biological Regulation at the Planetary Level, which commences early in 2012.

The hunt is on for the next generation of bioprotection researchers. The Bio-Protection Research Centre, New Zealand's only production based Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE), has had its funding confirmed for a new cohort of Postdoctoral Fellows and postgraduate students.

The Bio-Protection Research Centre focuses on developing sustainable production practices for agriculture, horticulture and forestry, with emphasis on technologies that will enable a shift away from pesticide-dependent control methods and towards integrated pest management.

Biologically based products are the future of pest and disease management, says Prof Alison Stewart, Director of the Bio-Protection Research Centre and organiser of an international Symposium, Managing pests: the future for biocontrol. 

"Biopesticides offer the solution to a number of problems faced by producers, marketers and consumers. First, there are all the issues around biodiversity and environmental protection. Biological products are less environmentally damaging than their synthetic counterparts.