Presentation made to Winners of Dr Cyril Hart Memorial Award 2022
Posted on
The Scottish Forestry Trust is delighted to announce that the winner of the Cyril Hart Memorial Award for 2022 is Dr Ian Willoughby and colleagues for their paper ‘Are there viable chemical and non-chemical alternatives to the use of conventional insecticides for the protection of young trees from damage by the large pine weevil Hylobius abietis?’ published in the Institute of Chartered Foresters journal Forestry in 2020. Having agreed the winning paper in April 2022 the Award was finally able to be presented in person by SFT Trustee, Professor James Pendlebury to Dr Ian Willoughby and Roger Moore from Forest Research on the 14th December 2022 after various logistical challenges were overcome.
The Award is given to the best practice note, article or paper, based on SFT funded research, published within a two year period and for the 2022 Award those published between January 2020 and December 2021 were eligible. The Award is presented in memory of Dr Cyril Hart (1913 -2009), known to many of us through his invaluable book Practical Forestry for the Agent and Surveyor which was reprinted in 2022, and other publications. Amongst his other proud professional moments was his receipt of Gold Medals from the Royal Forestry Society and from the Institute of Chartered Foresters. Anthony Hart, Cyril’s son, recently told us that his father “believed in careful research, publishing and thereby imparting knowledge of practical benefit to the widest possible forestry community”. This Award aims to recognise just that, and the Scottish Forestry Trust are proud to offer this Award in Dr Cyril Hart’s name.
Speaking from Forest Research’s Northern Research Station, when presented with the Award, Dr Ian Willoughby said “Roger Moore and myself are delighted to accept this award on behalf of the other co-authors of the paper – Dr Andy Moffat, Jack Forster, Imam Sayyed and Kerstin Leslie. The research described in the paper was very much a collaborative effort, and we are grateful to all of the partners for their vital contributions, as well as the support of the Scottish Forestry Trust. The trophy itself is stunning, and we have donated the prize money to the Disasters Appeal Committee Ukrainian Humanitarian Appeal.”
Dr Keith Kirby Chair of The Scottish Forestry Trust’s Projects and Research Committee who reviewed all of the submissions said “This was an outstanding piece of work which relates strongly to issues facing the forestry sector and as such is a worth winner of the Cyril Hart Memorial Award for 2022. The Trust would also like to recognise the excellent work of Dr Tom Ovenden from University of Stirling who submitted two papers for consideration which were both of very high quality”.
The winner of the Award receives £400 and a striking trophy created by Angus Clyne of Perthshire. This living trophy, will be held by the recipient for two years before being returned in advance of the 2024 Award being presented. Ian and his colleagues will also be asked to add their paper to the USB stick in the vessel and to contribute to the found objects contained within the trophy. It is understood that there are plans afoot to preserve some weevils for posterity to add to the found objects (deceased weevils one would presume!).