The Department of Biosciences awards the following prizes: prize for best scientific paper, Outstanding publication award, HSE prize, and the prize for Communication of Science. In addition, the Golden Laser Pointer from the Technical Committee, the Darwin Prize from the Center for Evolutionary and Ecological Synthesis (CEES) are awarded, and the Attention Prize is passed from one employee to another.
In 2020, 11 papers were nominated for IBV's best publication prize. The committee appointed to evaluate the nominations identified three publications of outstanding quality. The three groups were awarded prizes at the IBV Christmas party. Sissel Jentoft and colleagues for best publication. Pål Falnes and Mike Koomey with colleagues for outstanding publications.
Best scientific paper
The award for the best scientific paper went this year to Sissel Jentoft group, with the paper "Evolution of male pregnancy associated with remodeling of canonical vertebrate immunity in seahorses and pipefishes" (PNAS).
Outstanding publication award
The winners of the Outstanding publication award was Michael Koomey group, with the paper "Genetic determinants of genus-level glycan diversity in a bacterial protein glycosylation system" (PLOS), and Pål Falnes group with the paper "The human methyltransferase ZCCHC4 catalyses N6-methyladenosine modification of 28S ribosomal RNA" (Oxford academic).
The HSE price
The HSE prize is awarded annually to a person at IBV who has made a significant contribution to health, environment and safety at the department.
- The HSE award 2020 went to Ivan Myhre Winje.
- The HSE award 2021 went to Cecilie Mathiesen.
Communication of Science
This year price winner was Katharina Vestre for Communication of Science.
Katharina already has a long record of communicating biology to the general public including radio interviews, popular science talks and articles, and her Instagram account @dyrefakta.
In 2018, she made her literary debut with the book “The First Mystery” (Det første mysteriet) which tell the story of you, and everybody else, from conception to birth. The book is sold in over 20 countries. Her second book, “The Animal Book of Records” (Dyrenes rekordbok) tells funny and fascinating world record for animals. Both books are nicely illustrated by her sister and communicate biological mysteries to children.
The golden laser pointer
The subject committee awards the golden laser pointer to the best lecturer. The students' golden laser pointer went to Hans-Petter Hersleth.
The Darwin Prize
The Darwin Prize 2021 went to Finn-Eirk Johansen for his work in supporting evolutionary biological research, studies and practice at the University of Oslo.
The attention award
A walking trophy from employee to employee is also awarded: the Attention Award. The prize is awarded to someone of the opposite sex, in a different department, and preferably in a different job category than the one who awards. The award is passed on to another employee who spreads joy and a good atmosphere in the workplace.
For 2020, the award went on from Kristian Prydz to My Hanh Tu.