The Fry Medal is given to a Canadian Zoologist who has made an outstanding contribution to knowledge and understanding of an area in zoology, and who is expected to deliver a plenary lecture at the next annual conference.

Terms of Reference

Objectives

The Fry Medal is made to a Canadian Zoologist who has made an outstanding contribution to knowledge and understanding of an area in zoology, and who is expected to deliver a plenary lecture at the next annual conference.

Award

The recipient receives a Fry Medal and is expected to deliver the Fry Lecture at the next AGM. Full travel expenses for the recipient are reimbursed.

Source of Prize

Funded through ZET.

Frequency of Availability

One award is made annually.

Application/Nomination Procedures

Nominations or applications are made to the Chair of the Recognition Committee (the Past-President) and must include an up-to-date curriculum vitae, including a list of publications, and a brief statement of the significance of the work.

Nominations must be submitted as a single package, and may include a maximum of three letters of support in addition to the nomination letter. Applicants should arrange up to four letters of support to be forwarded to the Chair of the Recognition Committee; the Chair is under no obligation to follow up letters that are not submitted by the deadline.

The nomination or application must indicate that the candidate is available to deliver the Fry Lecture at the next AGM. Unsuccessful nominations/applications are held for two additional years.

Candidate packages for evaluation should clearly explain how the candidate meets one or more of the criteria below:

1. The quality and significance of the individual’s contributions to their field for example through:

• Peer reviewed articles, text books, monographs, government reports

• Contributions to policy development and implementation

• Invitations to a broad selection of speaking venues

2. Leadership in their sub-discipline, e.g., having expanded the field for example through

• Membership and leadership in societies or organizations promoting their field

• Journal editing, formation of new journals or media for the discipline

• Formation of new societies or subdivisions of their discipline within societies

3. Development of novel techniques or approaches that are widely used in the field such as

• Evidence of pioneering new methodologies that become widely used in the field

• Evidence of development of novel instrumentation and/or new approaches that become well-used in the field

4. HQP training and success in a range of disciplines

• Effective contribution to enhance knowledge in the discipline through success of trainees in diverse roles (including academia, government, administration, education)

5. Broad impact upon Zoology

• Evidence of active participation across a range of disciplines or societies

6. Outreach

• Examples of effective outreach to and through science and lay venues

• Evidence of a culture of communication of their discipline to venues beyond scientific publications

Application deadline

Review of applications will begin June 1. Please send applicants to the Past-President.

Awardees

• 2023 – Katie Gilmour, University of Ottawa. The diversity of carbonic anhydrases: Insight into the regulation of the internal environment in fishes.

• 2022 – Patricia Schulte, University of British Columbia. In the footsteps of Fry: responses to environmental stressors in fish.

• 2021 – Helga Guderley, Université Laval. Muscle metabolic plasticity: environment and evolution.

• 2020 – Anthony P. Russell, Unversity of Calgary. The sticky fingers of geckos: from esoteric backwater to mainstream interdisciplinary science.

• 2019 – Robert Shadwick, University of British Columbia. Adventures in zoology with rorqual whales.

• 2018 – Jean-Guy J. Godin, Carleton University. Sexual selection and male mate choice: insights from a small tropical fish.

• 2017 – Céline Audet, Université du Québec à Rimouski. Ecophysiology, a unique and exciting—but challenging—way to study adaptations of fishes to their environment.

• 2016 – Brock Fenton, University of Western Ontario. The endless allure of bats.

• 2015 – Patricia Wright, University of Guleph. Living on the edge – The physiology of amphibious fish in and out of water.

• 2014 – Glen Van Der Kraak, University of Guelph. The sex lives of fish: Science, policy and beyond.

• 2013 – Miodrag Belosevic, University of Alberta. Life is PIE.

• 2012 – Steve Perry, University of Ottawa. Reelin’ in the Years: A Retrospective Look at Fish Ionic Regulation.

• 2011 – Kenneth Storey, Carleton University. Exploring biochemical adaptations: synthetic intuition on a family farm.

• 2010 – Joseph S. Nelson, University of Alberta. From Kokanee to Suckers to Sticklebacks to classifying the world of fishes.

• 2009- Anthony Farrell, University of British Columbia.

• 2008 – Jeremy Mc Neil, University of Western Ontario.

• 2007 – Nancy M. Sherwood, University of Victoria. The evolution of brain hormones that control reproduction: Genomics to the rescue.

• 2006 – Richard E. Peter, University of Alberta. Neuroendocrine control systems in the goldfish.

• 2005 – John Youson, University of Toronto, Scarborough. A life of research with fishes of ancient lineage.

• 2004 – Thomas W. Moon, University of Ottawa. Fish metabolism: the good, the bad and the ugly.

• 2003 – William K. Milsom, University of British Columbia. Adaptive trends in respiratory control: A comparative perspective.

• 2002 – Robert G. Boutilier , Cambridge University. Mechanisms of cell survival in hypoxia and hypothermia.

• 2001 – F.W.H. Beamish, Burapha University. Axioms and anecdotes of a zoologist.

• 2000 – John Philips, University of British Columbia. Pumps, Peptides and Pests.

• 1999 – Chris M. Wood, McMaster University. Physiology of The Lake Magadi Tilapia, a fish adapted to one of the most extreme aquatic environments on Earth.

• 1998 – Geoffrey J. Eales, University of Manitoba. Thyroxine – hormone or vitamin?

• 1997 – Harold Atwood, Toronto. Adaptation in the nervous system.

• 1996 – Charles Krebs, University of British Columbia. Vertebrate community dynamics in the Yukon boreal forest.

• 1995 – Peter Hochachka, University of British Columbia. Regulated metabolic suppression in surviving oxygen lack: a conceptual mirror to Fry’s “scope for activity”.

• 1994 – Brian Hall, Dalhousie University. Development and evolution of the vertebrate skeleton.

• 1993 – David Randall, University of British Columbia. Fish gas transfer: conflicts and compromise in design.

• 1992 – Dave R. Jones, University of British Columbia. Cardiovascular dynamics of the alligator.

• 1991 – Roger Downer, University of Waterloo. Exciting insects and other biological diversions.

• 1990 – William C. Leggett, McGill University. Understanding variations in fish distribution and abundance; is the answer blowing in the wind?

• 1989 – G.O. Mackie, University of Victoria. Aggregates or integrates? Aspects of communication in animal communities.

• 1988 – Denis Chitty, University of British Columbia. Beautiful hypotheses and ugly facts.

• 1987 – K. G. Davey, York University. Blood, guts, sex and affairs of the heart in insects.

• 1986 – D. R. Idler, Memorial University of Newfoundland. Fish hormones: my personal experiences.

• 1985 – J. R Brett, Pacific Biological Station. Production energetics of a population of sockeye salmon, Onchorhynchus nerka.

• 1984 – No award.

• 1983 – W. E. Ricker, Pacific Biological Station. How to draw a straight line.

• 1982 – F. J. Rigler, University of Toronto. (No lecture given because of illness.)

• 1981 – K. Ronald, University of Guelph. Life and death of a seal. Published in Science 215:928-933,1982, in collaboration with J.L. Dougan under the title “The ice lover: biology of the harp seal (Phoca groenlandica).”

• 1980 – D. M. Ross. University of Alberta. Illusion and reality in comparative physiology. Published in Can. J. Zool. 59:2151-2158, 1981.

• 1979 – M. J. Dunbar, McGill Univrsity. The blunting of Occam’s razor, or to hell with parsimony. Published in Can. J. Zool. 58:123-128, 1980.

• 1978 – P. A. Larkin, University of British Columbia. Maybe you can’t get there from here: A foreshortened history of research in relation to management of Pacific salmon. Published in J. Fish Res. Board Can. 36:98-106, 1979.

• 1977 – H. I. Battle, University of Western Ontario. A saga of zoology in Canada.

• 1976 – I. McTaggart-Cowan, University of British Columbia. The sociology of carnivores related to their use of resources.

• 1975 – F. R Hayes, Dalhousie University. Quantitative and aesthetic factors in the definition of an ideal environment. Published in Can. J. Zool. 54:809-815, 1976.

• 1974 – W. S. Hoar, University of British Columbia. Smolt transformation: evolution, behavior and physiology. Published in J. Fish. Res. Board Can. 33:1233-1252, 1976.