The University has received a highly prestigious Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education for the work of the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE). The presentation was made at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace on 20 February.
The presentation was made by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall.
Kent was represented by Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Karen Cox, Chair of the University Council Sir David Warren, and Professor Bob Smith, Director of DICE.
The Queen’s Anniversary Prizes are awarded, within the honours system, for exceptional contributions by institutions in the higher and further education sectors.
Prof Karen Cox, Prof Bob Smith receiving the award
Since its foundation, DICE has been a leader in its field, and instrumental in supporting applied research and capacity building in this area.
It is the largest UK higher education institute to undertake this work, offering interdisciplinary undergraduate and postgraduate courses in wildlife conservation. To date, over 1000 conservationists from over 100 countries have trained with DICE.
DICE leads projects in over 50 countries, including research on human wellbeing and nature, human-elephant conflict, oil palm deforestation, online illegal trade in protected species, national park planning and ecotourism projects and the mapping of biodiversity through eDNA. This work is supported by funding from a range of sources including NERC, Natural England, the government’s Darwin Initiative and the Global Challenges Research Fund, part of the UK’s official development assistance.
This award is the third Queen’s Anniversary Prize to be presented to the University, with previous awards recognising the work of the Kent Law Clinic and the Tizard Centre.
