Awards

These awards are made upon recommendation by the ESPL Board as a tribute to Fiona Kirkby, who was the Assistant Editor of ESPL from 1978 to 2019. They recognise outstanding contribution to the journal by reviewers. ESPL is, of course, very fortunate to have an extremely large number of excellent reviewers. But, occasionally, we see reviewers who go the extra kilometre in supporting our authors in publishing the very best geomorphological research.

This years award winners are:

• Dr. Rachel Bosch (boschr1@nku.edu), Northern Kentucky University, USA
• Dr. Christine Fey (christine.fey@boku.ac.at), University of Natural Resources, Vienna, Austria
• Dr. Sarah Greenwood (sarah.greenwood@geo.su.se), Department of Geological Sciences, University of Stockholm, Sweden
• Dr. Guillaume Piton (guillaume.piton@inrae.fr), INRAE, University of Grenoble, France
• Dr. Anne Sofie Søndergaard (anneso@phys.ethz.ch), Institute of Physics, ETH Zürich, Switzerland
• Dr. Wei Wang (wangwei41178@yahoo.com), Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, China
• Dr. Laure Guerit (guerit@ipgp.fr), Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, France
• Dr. John Mylroie (mylroie@geosci.msstate.edu), Mississippi State University, Geosciences, USA

2021: Jamie Woodward, University of Leeds

2020: Dr. Katie Whitbread, British Geological Survey

The David Linton Award is given to a geomorphologist who has made a leading contribution to the discipline over a sustained period. The winner is invited to present the Linton Lecture, which is one of the central elements of the AGM.

Nominations are drawn together for the selection process in January each year and should be submitted by the end of December of the preceding year. Unsuccessful nominations will be carried forward for a maximum of two further years, if (i) the Research Committee deems them to be of a sufficiently high calibre to be competitive in future years and (ii) the nominee remains eligible for the Award.

Dr Andrew Brookes

Citation: Andrew has made a sustained and enormous contribution towards applying the science of fluvial geomorphology to practical problems. He gained his PhD at the University of Southampton in 1983 (under the supervision of Prof Ken Gregory), and became one of the first applied geomorphologists in the UK, working as a research fellow at the Royal Society in Denmark and the University of Wales before applying geomorphological science at the National Rivers Authority and its successor the Environment Agency, and then in consultancies at Gifford, Jacobs and AECOM. He has written policy and guidance that’s used widely across the applied discipline and provided geomorphological support on hundreds of projects involving river restoration and river engineering. In addition to his applied work, he has made significant research contributions via several books and over 40 peer-reviewed publications. He has been a leading light for geomorphology as an applied discipline: he has increased its profile and impact by supporting the chartered geographer postnominal, and has led and mentored dozens of geomorphologists now working in a range of consultancies and other organisations across the UK. Andrew has been a ground-breaker throughout his career and it is therefore fitting that he becomes the first recipient of the Linton Award to be a professional geomorphologist rather than an academic.

• Prof. Lynne Frostick (2021)
• Ellen Wohl (2020)
• Tavi Murray (2019)
• Herve Piegay (2018)
• Tim Burt (2017)
• Jean Poesen (2016)
• Keith Richards (2015)
• Jonathan Phillips (2014)
• Gerald Nanson (2013)
• Angela Gurnell (2012)
• John Lewin (2011)
• Adrian Harvey (2010)
• Andrew Goudie (2009)
• Tom Dunne (2008)
• Des Walling (2007)
• Bill Dietrich (2006)
• Rob Ferguson (2005)
• David Sugden (2004)
• Olav Slaymaker (2003)
• Athol Abrahams (2002)
• Michael Thomas (2001)
• William Graf (2000)
• Ken Gregory (1999)
• John Thornes (1998)
• Asher Schick (1997)
• Michael Church (1996)
• Vic Baker (1995)
• M. Gordon Wolman (1994)
• Denys Brunsden (1993)
• Frank Oldfield (1992)
• C.A.M. King (1991)
• George H. Dury (1990)
• Mike Kirkby (1989)
• E.H. Brown (1988)
• J De Ploey (1987)
• Luna B. Leopold (1986)
• Leszek Starkel (1985)
• R.J. Chorley (1984)
• J.R.L. Allen (1983)
• Stanley Schumm (1982)
• R.A. Bagnold (1981)

The Gordon Warwick Award is made annually for excellence in geomorphological research by someone within 15 years of being awarded their doctorate (i.e. time since graduation).

Nominations are drawn together for the selection process in January each year and should be submitted by the end of December of the preceding year. Unsuccessful nominations will be carried forward for a maximum of two further years, if (i) the Research Committee deems them to be of a sufficiently high calibre to be competitive in future years and (ii) the nominee remains eligible for the Award.

Dr Rebecca Hodge

Citation: Dr Hodge has made several key contributions to geomorphology during and since her PhD. She has been primarily interested in sediment transport at the grain scale, using both field and numerical methods to understand how discrete grains move through fluvial systems. During her PhD, she began working on discrete element models of sediment transport. She has supplemented this with innovative new approaches to terrestrial laser scanning and particle tracing methods during her time at Cambridge, Glasgow and now Durham. Her papers on using laser scanning to characterise fluvial morphology at the grain scale have proven highly influential. Having first published in this area in 2009, Dr Hodge was one of the early adopters of this technology (her initial paper in ESPL has been cited 222 times in google scholar). Dr Hodge has also contributed grain scale models of sediment transport, and is one of the world experts in this field. Her studies exploring how rivers transition from full alluvial cover to full bedrock were highly innovative and went beyond continuum descriptions of sedimentary cover. She has gone on to develop this theory in more detail in a series of recent papers in JGR-Earth Surface as well as Earth Surface Dynamics. More recently she has use tomography and environmental seismology to understand bedrock erosion and sediment transport, and is always at the cutting edge of research in fluvial geomorphology. Dr Hodge’s papers are of a consistently high standard displaying a very rigorous and quantitative approach to geomorphology: her papers often reflect years of careful development of code and theory combined with field experiments. She serves as an excellent example for younger geomorphologists of how to conduct research to the highest standards.

• Dr Bethan Davies (2021)
• Joe Wheaton (2020)
• Walter Bertoldi (2019)
• Larissa Naylor (2018)
• Martin Austin (2017)
• Doug Jerolmack (2016)
• Kirstie Fryirs (2015)
• Simon Mudd (2014)
• Chris Stokes (2013)
• Dimitri Lague (2012)
• Joe Holden (2011)
• Dan Parsons (2010)
• Ian Candy (2009)
• Kristof Van Oost (2008)
• Niels Hovius (2007)
• Tom Coulthard (2006)
• Stephen Tooth (2005)
• Jo Bullard (2004)
• David Nash (2003)
• Andrew Nicholas (2002)
• David Higgitt (2001)
• Tavi Murray (2000)
• John Wainwright (1999)
• J.J. McDonell (1998)
• Tim Quine (1997)
• Gerard Govers (1996)
• J.R. French (1995)
• J Best (1994)
• Mark Macklin (1993)
• John Dearing (1992)
• Kenneth Pye (1991)
• M. Sharp (1990)
• J.S. Walder (1988)
• Colin Ballantyne (1987)
• Bill Dietrich (1986)

The Mike Kirkby award is given to the best paper published in the BSG’s Journal Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, as decided by the ESPL editorial board. The paper is selected from the volume of the journal for the given year of the Award.

Awarded to the paper by Harries:
Harries, R et al. 2021, Impact of climate on landscape form, sediment transfer and the sedimentary record 

Citation:
The Michael J Kirkby Award 2022 for the best paper published in Volume 46 of Earth Surface Processes and Landforms is made to Dr. Rebekah Harries and colleagues for the paper entitled: ” Impact of climate on landscape form, sediment transfer and the sedimentary record ». One of the basic conundrums in geomorphology remains the imprint of climate, and changing climate, on the functioning of sediment transfer systems. This carefully crafted paper, informed by detailed fieldwork, teases out the linkages between broad climatic controls; sediment production, its connection and flux downstream; and its eventual export from river catchments in the Argentina Andes. This work is of critical importance for thinking through how we interpret the sedimentary depositional record and, as such, it goes well beyond just geomorphological interests.

• Olivia Steinemann et al (2021)
• Catriona Thompson (2020)
• Joanmarie Del Vecchio (2019)
• Bradley Johnson (2018)
• Stuart Grieve (2017)
• Herve Guillon (2016)
• Liran Goren (2015)
• Clifford Riebe and Darryl Granger (2014)
• Sebastian Doetteri (2013)
• Gary Parker (2012)
• Peter Haff (2011)
• Walter Bertoldi (2010)
• Richard Hindmarsh and Chris Stokes (2009)
• Paul Bishop (2008)

One of Dick Chorley’s lasting contributions to geomorphology lies in the post-graduate students whom he inspired and guided at the start of their academic careers. Many have gone on to academic careers themselves, and include several of the leading figures in British geomorphology. In recognition of Dick’s commitment to serving the future of the discipline, the BSG has decided to honour his memory by creating the Dick Chorley Medal and Prize (£500) for Postgraduate Research. The award is made for a published paper based on PhD research, where the nominee is expected to be the first author. Nominees should be within 4 years of their PhD award at the time of nomination.

Nominations are drawn together for the selection process in January each year and should be suibmitted by the end of December of the preceding year. Unsuccessful nominations will be carried forward for a maximum of two further years, if (i) the Research Committee deems them to be of a sufficiently high calibre to be competitive in future years and (ii) the nominee remains eligible for the Award.

Awarded to the paper by Larkin:
Larkin, Z.T., Ralph, T.J., Tooth, S., Fryirs, K.A. and Carthey, A.J.R. (2020), Identifying threshold responses of Australian dryland rivers to future global hydroclimatic change, Scientific Reports, 10, article no. 6653 (DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-63622-3)

Citation: Zacchary Larkin’s paper outlines an innovative investigation into Australian dryland river response to 21st century climate change. Australian dryland rivers are geomorphologically diverse, ranging from through-going, single channels to discontinuous, multi-channelled systems, but prior to Zacc’s research, understanding of their sensitivity to future hydroclimatic changes was limited. The paper characterises for the first time the geomorphology of 29 dryland rivers encompassing a humid-arid gradient that covers >1,800,000 km2 of the continental interior. Statistical separation of five alluvial river types, and quantification of their present-day catchment hydroclimates, enabled identification of potential geomorphological thresholds. Using IPCC projections (e.g. RCP4.5), aridity increases across eastern Australia by 2070 are shown to result in ~80% of these dryland rivers crossing a threshold from one type to another. Dramatic cases will see currently through-going rivers (e.g. Murrumbidgee) experience step changes towards discontinuity, characterised by pronounced downstream channel size decreases and local termination. Importantly, not only does the paper address these important Australian rivers but it also shows how the approach could be applied to other dryland rivers (e.g. mixed bedrock-alluvial), allowing similar analyses globally where hydroclimate is an important driver. The paper has already been highly cited, and a supporting article in The Conversation (https://theconversation.com/australias-inland-rivers-are-the-pulse-of-the-outback-by-2070-theyll-be-unrecognisable -136492, 20th April 2020) has generated 53,000 reads and 491 comments globally, demonstrating a substantial impact both on the discipline and broader public engagement.

• Dr Alvise Finotello (2021)
• Duna Roda-Boulda (2020)
• Nico Batz (2019)
• Edwin Baynes (2018)
• Virginia Ruiz-Villanueva (2017)
• Jeremy Ely (2016)
• Michelle Johnson (2015)
• Ann Rowan (2014)
• Victoria Milner (2013)
• Elisa Vignaga (2012)
• Ian Thrasher (2010)
• Tibi Codilean (2009)
• Alex Whittaker (2008)
• Keith Richardson (2007)

The Marjorie Sweeting Dissertation Prize is awarded annually for the best undergraduate geomorphological dissertation (no higher than Level 6) undertaken at a UK university.

The nomination deadline is September 30th every year.

Entries are invited for this annual competition. The award (£200 plus funded attendance at the BSG Annual Conference) is presented to the successful nominee at the Annual General Meeting.

Awarded to Tom Cockbain for their dissertation: ‘Spatial Analysis of Sand Wave Morphological Variability and Hydrodynamic Forcing in Dutch North Sea Wind Farms’ completed while at the University of Leeds.

Citation:
Tom’s dissertation used morphometric analysis of sand wave bedforms in bathymetric surveys of wind farms sites in the Dutch North Sea, comparing characteristics of each site and discussing how the influence of hydrodynamic forces on their variability. The study found a high degree of spatial variability in physical characteristics, and emphasised the applied importance of the work for future infrastructure developments in the North Sea in the context of a changing climate and modelling limitations. The dissertation was a rich and highly original piece of work in marine geomorphology, with a comprehensive and thorough consideration of the literature, excellent data collection and quantitative morphological analysis, and writing and figures of publishable standard. The dissertation succeeds in emphasising the importance of geomorphology to wider audiences in industry.

• Jennelle Anderson (2021)
• Aaron Wyld (2020)
• Jessica Kitch (2019)
• Natasha Wallum (2018)
• Caitlin Curry (2017)
•  James Cave (2016)
• Hannah Mallinson (2015)
• Benjamin Chandler (2014)
• Emma Washington (2013)
• Barnaby Bedford (2012)
• Chris Checkley (2011)
• Sophie Brown (2010)
• Alexander Lane (2009)
• Sally Tyldesley (2009)
• Ellen Flint (2008)
• Helen Miller (2008)

Awarded to the best poster and talk given by a postgraduate at the BSG Annual General Meeting.