About Us

Honours & Grants

IPS offers Honorary Membership to its members and, since 2015, the Allan Robertson Grants to students and young professionals. Previously Awards of Excellence were provided.

IPS members in Glasgow 1973

Honorary members

To do honour to a person who has rendered particular service to the Society or international co-operation in the mire and peat sector, the Executive Board may confer on him/her the title of Honorary President or Honorary Member of the Society.

Honorary members, including the Honorary President, are long serving members of IPS who have given exemplary service to the Society or to peat or peatlands internationally.

Persons to whom the IPS Executive Board has conferred Honorary Presidency or Honorary Membership of the IPS shall receive a Diploma and be exempted from the payment of a membership fee.

Honorary President

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Professor emeritus
Juhani Päivänen, Finland

There can be only one IPS Honorary President at a time.

The Honorary President has the right to attend Executive Board meetings and is exempted from the payment of participation fees at the Congresses, Symposia and Workshops of the IPS.

Allan Robertson was the first Honorary President of the IPS.

Honorary Members

Gerfried Caspers, Germany
Richard S. Clymo, United Kingdom
Jean-Yves Daigle, Canada
Hartmut Falkenberg, Germany

Matti Hilli, Finland
Gerry Hood, Canada
Paddy Hughes, Ireland
Piotr Ilnicki, Poland

Valerijs Kozlovs, Latvia
Markku Mäkelä, Finland
Thomas Malterer, USA
Juhani Päivänen, Finland

Anne Jelle Schilstra, the Netherlands
Paul Short, Canada
Jaakko Silpola, Finland

Ansis Snore, Latvia
Raimo Sopo, Finland
Nick van de Griendt, the Netherlands

Paused in support of Ukraine: A.K. Dergunov & B.N. Sokolov, Russia

Ivan I. Lishtvan, Belarus (passed away 17 February 2023)
Donald N. Grubich, USA (passed away 21 June 2023)

Allan Robertson Grants

The 2024 Grants can be used for project work, travelling, or registering for the International Peatland Congress in China in August, www.ipc2024.com.There will be at least 7 grants available.

The International Peatland Society launched the Grants for Research Students and Young Professionals in Peatland Management in memory of Allan Robertson, First Honorary President of the IPS, in 2015.

The Grants are awarded to:

a) young peatland and peat researchers carrying out research or practical work or
b) young professionals in early stages of their career in managing peatlands or peat industry.

Grant recipients are normally under the age of 30 (born after 1993). Undergraduates are ineligible.

Payment will be made by bank transfer according to invoices/receipts.

Successful applicants are asked to provide a report on their project or work that will be published in the IPS magazine Peatlands International and/or give a presentation of it at an international IPS event at the latest 12 months after the grant funding has been paid to them.

Application form: https://forms.gle/VzC7EqKU9Nh6yMsa7

Deadline 31 January 2024.

 

Grant recipients 2023

  • Robert McHenry: Eco-hydrological and biodiversity effects of vehicular access roads in the context of forestry removal for restoration and infrastructure development
  • Raquel Fernandes: Remote sensing of invasive alien plants in Portuguese sublittoral peatlands
  • Antonia Hartmann: Master thesis – Greenhouse gas emissions from compacted peat soil
  • Aamir Shehzad Khan: Large scale assessment of fen restoration in Canada
  • Bethany Copsey: Citizen Science Framework for Peatlands
  • Anne Eberle: Iron-carbon interaction in thawing permafrost peatlands

Grant recipients 2022

  • Natasha Underwood: Ecological and biogeochemical benefits of environmental enhancements at Moorlinch (and beyond) on the Somerset Levels (report PI 2.2023)
  • Olivia Kuuri-Riutta: The 10th meeting of International Society for Testate Amoeba Research (report PI 3.2023)
  • Yvet Telgenkamp: Linking plant-microbe interaction stability to carbon cycling in peatlands (report PI 2.2023)
  • Li Wang: Climatic and anthropogenic drivers of Holocene Scottish peatland dynamics (report PI 2.2023)
  • Annuri Rossita: Ecosystem Services Assessment for Ecosystem-based Peatland Management (report PI 3.2023)
  • Ennia Bosshard: Understanding plant-pollinator networks and their role in tropical peatland restoration (revoked due to change of site)
  • Marie Maxwell: Peatlands on the Edge: Resilience of the ‘Limestone Pavement Bogs’ (added later)
  • Thibaud Glaesener: Interests groups and conflicts towards a sustainable transformation of the Wietingsmoor

Grant recipients 2021

  • Clarisse Brehier: Greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural pre-alpine fens: effect of rewetting (report PI 3.2021)
  • Rani Carroll: Markers of the Anthropocene in south-eastern Australian peatlands (report PI 2.2022)
  • Rosie Everett: Perspectives and Perceptions: The Art of Peatlands in Time (report PI 1.2023)
  • Nurul Ihsan Fawzi: Conserving tropical peatland through water management for carbon neutral agriculture (report PI 2.2022)
  • Liam Godwin: Restoration of peatland catchments for river water quality and wildlife (report PI 4.2022)
  • Eva Ntara: Restoring peatlands through art-The case of Ondiri swamp, Kenya (report PI 2.2022)
  • Eva Marie Weber: Master thesis – early stage vegetation dynamics of rewetted peatlands (report PI 1.2023)
  • Sophie Wilkinson: The impact of triple-disturbance on peatland hydrological conditions and re-burn potential (report PI 4.2022)

Grand recipients 2020

  • Dael Sassoon, University of Manchester: Ecosystem dynamics of Amazonian open peatlands during the Late Holocene (report PI 2.2021)
  • Clare Profous, Masters Student at NUI Galway (Human Rights Law): Ireland’s Just Transition Plan – The Midlands (report PI 1.2021)
  • Thomas Newman, Univeristy of Leicester: Carbon loss from agricultural fen peatlands in the UK (report PI 2.2021)
  • Sanna Piilo, University of Helsinki: Attending IPC2020 and presenting my research in Tallinn (report PI 4.2021)
  • Monika Ruwaimana, University of Oregon: Tropical peat researcher from Indonesia (report PI 4.2021)
  • Made Dirgantara, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Palangka Raya: Sustainability of Tropical Peatlands: Fires Mitigation (report submitted)
  • Farina de Waard, University of Greifswald, Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology: Global distribution and patterns of fire on peatlands (report PI 1.2023)
  • Mareille Wittnebel, Thünen Institute of Climate-Smart Agriculture: Soil organic carbon stocks of managed peat soils in Germany (report PI 3.2021)
  • Benjamin Freeman, Bangor University: First conference for PhD student research on responsible peatland management (report PI 4.2021)
  • Hannes Keck, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences: Investigating controlling variables of greenhouse gas fluxes from agricultural peatlands (report PI 2.2023)

Grand recipients 2019

  • Monika Aarniste (EST), Tallinn University of Technology: Digitalized database of Estonian peatlands
  • Luke Andrews (WAL), University of York: Peatlands and climate change: Using the past as a key to the future
  •  Scott Davidson (SCO), University of Waterloo:  Impact of wildfire on methane emissions from a continental boreal peatland
  • Ian Detrey (ENG), The University of the Highlands and Islands: Bog in a box; long term peat storage for rehabilitation
  • Abigail Gwynn (ENG), University of Exeter: Effects of Peatland Forest Fires on Orangutan Behaviour and Health
  • William Jessop (ENG), University of York: Creating Sustainably Wooded Peatlands
  • Claire McVeigh (IRL), Queen’s University Belfast: Weathering below blanket bogs and potential impacts on carbon dynamics
  • Christopher Schulze (GER), University of Alberta: Pathways of nitrogen in thawing permafrost peatlands in subarctic Canada
  • Amanda Sinclair (AUS), RMIT University: Physical and chemical properties of tropical peat informing peatland restoration
  • Lauren Thompson (CAN), University of Alberta: Mercury export from thawing permafrost peatlands

Grand recipients 2018

  • Danielle Rupp, Michigan Technological University, USDA (Forest Service) Northern Research Station: Elucidating carbon cycle pathways in a boreal rich fen using a pulse-chase experiment
  • Elisa Männistö, University of Eastern Finland: Travel and participation fee for EGU General Assembly 2018
  • Henk Pieter Sterk, Environmental Research Institute, University of the Highlands and Islands, UK: PAR sensors funding for upscaling peatland condition research in Scotland
  • Hui Zhang, University of Helsinki: To attend 5th European Conference on Permafrost
  • Jasmijn E. Sybenga, University of the Highlands and Islands: Seeing the Wood for the Trees: a palaeoecological approach into the research of past natural woodland in the Scottish Highlands
  • Jerome Blewett, University of Bristol: Biomarkers and genomics to constrain biogeochemistry in modern/ancient peatlands
  • Kirsten Lees, University of Reading: Measuring carbon sequestration in peatlands using remote sensing
  • Martha Ledger, University of Nottingham: Determining regional-scale carbon losses from tropical peatlands using InSAR

Grand recipients 2017

  • Research information dissemination and review of Lesotho wetlands(peatlands) monitoring protocols, Motseko Mots’ets’e, National University of Lesotho
  • Interactions between microtopography, habitat heterogeneity and plant nutrition on peatlands, Chris Hatcher, Loughborough University, UK
  • Measuring restoration progress using water chemistry in formerly afforested bogs, Paul Gaffney, Environmental Research Institute, University of the Highlands and Islands, UK
  • Greenhouse gas emissions after Sphagnum harvesting: finding the study sites, Aino Korrensalo, University of Eastern Finland
  • Carbon emissions from a thawing permafrost peatland, Liam Heffernan, University of Alberta
  • Soil organic carbon in Icelandic peatlands: formation, stability and decomposition, Susanne Claudia Möckel, University of Iceland, Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences
  • Late Glacial and Holocene environmental changes in Western Polesie (Eastern Poland) recorded in the sediments of alkaline fens, Jarosław Pietruczuk, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Poland
  • Travel and registration fee for IPS 2017 (Visa application did not succeed), Hongxing He, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Sweden – retained

Grand recipients 2016

500 €

  • André Vicente Liz, Universidade Santiago de Compostela
  • Dhandapani Selvakumar, University of Nottingham
  • Mizuki Morishita, Department of Geography, Tokyo Metropolitan University
  • Ariane Blier-Langdeau, PERG/Université Laval/CEN
  • Alison Hoyt, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

250 €

  • Chloe Brown, University of Nottingham
  • Nicholas Girkin, University of Nottingham
  • Emma Brown, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, UK
  • Kartika Hapsari, University of Goettingen
  • Mari Parkkari, Natural Resources Institute Finland
  • Hanifah Nurul Atilia Shafienaz, Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute
  • Herman Maraden, APRIL Asia
  • Norliyana Zin Zawawi, University of Aberdeen
  • Meli Fitriani Saragi, Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), CIFOR
  • Nisa Novita, Oregon State University
  • Sara Thornton, University of Leicester
  • Randi Ade Candra, Universitas Tanjungpura, Indonesia

Grand recipients 2015

  • Joss Ratcliffe (Scotland): Age 25; Ph.D. Student at the University of the Highlands and Islands, Thurso who is studying ecosystem functioning in two bogs in New Zealand; his grant will go towards the cost of specialised scanning equipment.
  • Anne-Helena Purre (Estonia): Age 26; Ph.D. student at the University of Tallinn who is studying carbon dioxide flux in forestry drained and restored peatlands; her grant will be used to assist with travel costs for field work.
  • Nisa Novita (Indonesia): Age 28; Ph.D. student at Oregon State University in the USA who is studying greenhouse gas fluxes associated with land use changes in Indonesia; her grant will go towards the purchase of a replacement probe for a field meter and also conference travel.
  • Sara Anne Thornton (England); Age 23; Ph.D. student at the University of Leicester who is studying the benefits and values provided by tropical peat swamp forests in Borneo; her grant will help continue and complete field work.
  • Tadgh Ó Corcora (Ireland); Age 30; Conservation Officer with the Irish Peatland Conservation Council; his grant will go towards the cost of equipment to undertake Sphagnum moss transfer for bog restoration and to train 10 volunteers.

Award of Excellence

The IPS Award of Excellence was given out during 2006-2014 for a distinguished contribution in any sector of peatland activities.

Laureates

2014 Professor Richard “Dicky” Clymo, United Kingdom
2013 Professor Harri Vasander, Finland
2012 Professor Piotr Ilnicki, Poland
2011 Dr Line Rochefort, Canada
2010 Mr Gerald Schmilewski, Germany
2009 Dr Timo Nyrönen, Finland
2008 Mrs Riitta Korhonen, Finland
2007 Mr Hartmut Falkenberg, Germany (Wim Tonnis Award)
2006 Dr Hans Joosten, the Netherlands and Mr Donal Clarke, Ireland (Wim Tonnis Award)