 |
 |
|||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
||||||
|
A specific bank account has been established by the ACRS Council so that donors may contribute directly to the fund. Details are provided below. You can make your payment via the internet and in doing so can opt to record your name as donor. Alternatively, you can make a deposit at any branch of the Westpac Bank, and ask for a reference number for your payment. A third option is to send a cheque or money order to the ACRS made payable to the “ACRS Vicki Harriott Award Fund”. Bank: Westpac Banking Corporation Thank you for your support. Prof. Michael Kingsford Mailing address for contributions:
Click here to see the current list of donors to the Vicki Harriott Memorial Student Prize
Vicki Harriott – Tribute to a Renowned Coral Reef Ecologist
It is with great sadness that we write this tribute for a very special colleague. Dr Vicki Harriott, Associate Professor in the School of Environmental Science at Southern Cross University, passed away in March this year, to the loss of the marine science community. Her career spanned just 25 years, yet was impressive for the diversity of contributions she made in a range of roles. In particular, she will be remembered as a strong advocate whose work in coral reef research, education and management was internationally recognized and widely respected. Vicki’s career was rich and varied. She gained a BSc (1976) and then an MSc (1980) from the University of Queensland for her research on holothurian reproduction and population ecology at Heron Island Research Station in the southern Great Barrier Reef. She was awarded a PhD from James Cook University in 1984 for her research on coral reproduction and community structure at Lizard Island Research Station in the northern GBR. Even at this early stage in her career, Vicki’s clear-sighted and focused approach to research was an inspiration to her peers. She completed some of the inaugural work on coral reproduction at Lizard Island - before coral mass spawning was recognized, and published one of the first papers on bleaching of GBR corals - before bleaching was widely acknowledged as the harbinger of environmental stress it is known to be today. Her subsequent postdoctoral work at James Cook University, similarly established foundations for a number of new directions including coral reef restoration techniques, spatial and temporal patterns in coral recruitment and the impacts of crown-of-thorns starfish on the Great Barrier Reef. Briefly leaving Academia in 1987, Vicki became the inaugural Assistant Curator at the Great Barrier Reef Aquarium (Reef HQ) in Townsville, and put her knowledge of coral community structure to practical use when she set up the main exhibit – then the largest coral reef tank in the world. Always expanding her horizons, she applied for and received a Churchill Fellowship to travel to the US and SE Asia to research ways of improving conditions in the Aquarium. In 1990, Vicki accepted a lecturing position at Southern Cross University, Lismore, where she taught and developed undergraduate teaching units in Biology, Marine Ecosystems, Ecology, and Aquaculture. In addition, she coordinated the development and accreditation of the Fisheries and Aquaculture stream in undergraduate teaching. Shifting her focus to subtropical coral communities, Vicki initiated collaborative research programs on latitudinal patterns of coral recruitment, coral growth and environmental records from coral cores, coral-algal interactions, fouling communities, impacts of divers on coral communities, coral community rehabilitation, and impacts of sewage and other disturbances on reef communities. With her colleagues and students, Vicki developed a body of information about temperate reefs that was very timely in relation to global change and its impact on coral reefs and which represents one of her most important contributions to coral reef science. Her long-standing focus on latitudinal patterns in processes controlling coral community structure culminated in the publication of a biophysical model in a recent (2002) paper with Simon Banks in the journal Coral Reefs. In addition to successfully supervising postgraduate and Honours students at Southern Cross University, Vicki played a key role in the formation of the SCU Branch of the National Tertiary Education Union, subsequently being elected as President of the Branch. In recognition of her outstanding contributions to Southern Cross University, Vicki was rapidly promoted to Senior Lecturer and then Associate Professor. Next, Vicki turned her considerable skills to managing and promoting education at the CRC Reef Research Centre, returning to Townsville in 2000 for 3 years as the Program Leader for the Education and Communication section. In recent years, her efforts have supported a wide range of postgraduate students working on coral reef research. Her dedication to students was such that she commented on thesis drafts from her hospital bed. She expanded the role at CRC Reef, tackling extension activities, website development and publications, in addition to issues relating to postgraduate scholarships and training. Focusing her research more on issues pertinent to reef management, Vicki wrote a seminal report on the Coral Harvesting Industry on the GBR, which led to the Prime Minister overturning a decision by the Environment Minister to ban the industry. As a result of this work, Vicki was invited to be a plenary speaker at a workshop in Indonesia in 2001 to develop internationally acceptable guidelines for the live coral trade. Vicki’s work is also used as the basis for managing the industry by the GBRMPA. Vicki returned to Southern Cross University in 2003 to continue her roles in teaching and research, despite her deteriorating health as a consequence of a particularly pernicious cancer. Focussed research and prescient insights have been a hallmark of her career, and will undoubtedly contribute to the legacy provided by her more than 45 papers in international refereed journals and conference proceedings, and at least 34 other papers, technical reports, book chapters and consultancy reports and their influence on the next generation of reef researchers and managers. In recognition of Vicki’s lifetime work on coral reefs and reef management, the Australian Coral Reef Society will have a plenary address and a memorial student prize for the best paper in her name at their annual ACRS conference. Details of how colleagues and friends can donate to the fund to support the student prize will be announced soon. The NTEU NSW Division has also announced a substantial contribution to a memorial fund for coral research in recognition of Vicki’s leadership and mentoring of women at University and in the NTEU. Vicki was supremely successful at balancing her professional and personal life, and enjoyed close friendships with many colleagues from around the world. Vicki’s life, achievements and friendships were celebrated at gatherings of friends and colleagues in Townsville and at Southern Cross University recently. The coral reef community will sadly miss her insights, her vitality, her good will and her friendship. Bette Willis Peter Harrison Helene Marsh Carden Wallace
|
2008 Australian Coral Reef Society
Site design and hosting by Centre for Marine Studies, The University of Queensland