The Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp and the Royal Belgian Zoological Society annually award a scientific award for the best Belgian master thesis in Zoology.
The Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp and the Royal Belgian Zoological Society annually award a scientific award for the best Belgian master thesis in Zoology.
The “Jacques Kets” Award was first installed in 1953 by the Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp to arouse the love for nature in young people and to encourage them to pursue a career in natural sciences. The award was named after Jacques Kets, a naturalist and taxidermist from Antwerp who in 1843 became the first director of the newly established Antwerp Zoo.
In 2007 the Jacques Kets Award was modified into a “booster grant” to give promising Masters students the opportunity to build upon their achievements and stimulate them to continue their project or enter an academic career in zoology.
Who can participate?
Each Masters student in biology, molecular biology, bioscience-engineering or related scientific disciplines who wrote a Master’s thesis at a Belgian university or research institute during the academic year 2015-2016 (or 2014-2015), and received a grade of - at least - 14/20 for their thesis. The only requirement is that the subject of the thesis is in a zoological discipline in the broadest sense; this includes fundamental and applied studies in biodiversity conservation, ecology, population & conservation genetics, behavioural ecology & ethology, animal physiology, endocrinology, evolutionary biology, comparative anatomy & morphology, taxonomy & phylogeny, neurobiology or related disciplines.
How do you participate?
Submit a detailed English abstract of your thesis (maximum 500 words), fill out the registration form below (or download the Word file) and don't forget to answer the two questions.
The abstracts sent to us will be evaluated by an expert jury comprising professors from Belgian Universities and will pass two selections:
- The jury will first select the six best abstracts
- The six shortlisted candidates will be invited to give an oral presentation of their work (in English) upon which the jury will select one winner. In 2016 the Kets Award presentations will be organised in Planckendael Zoo on Saturday 12 OR 19 November 2016 at 10 am. (Final date to be confirmed in July)
What does the award winner get?
The Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp will give the winner a voucher worth € 1,000 that can be either used as a conference travel grant or for purchasing a (laptop) computer. The shortlisted candidates will each receive a multimedia voucher worth € 100.
The Royal Belgian Zoological Society will give the winner the opportunity (registration, travel and accommodation included) to present his/her work as an invited speaker for an international audience of zoologists, during the ZOOLOGY 2016 (formerly Benelux Congress of Zoology) that will be hosted by the University of Antwerp and the Antwerp ZOO Centre for Research and Conservation on 16 and 17 December 2016
Online registration
Please register here.
Submission deadline Friday 30 September 2016 23:59h!