The Micropalaeontological Society will confer former Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences PhD student and postdoctoral research associate Dr Phil Jardine the Charles Downie Award. This prize is given to a member of the society who has published the most significant paper in the preceding year in any journal based upon their postgraduate research. The Micropalaeontological Society comprises an international membership of around 500 members and previous recipients include discipline leaders from the UK as well as abroad: A former award winner is GEES Birmingham Fellow Dr Tom Dunkley-Jones.

The winning paper is Jardine, P.E., Harrington, G.J., & Stidham, T.A. 2012. Regional-scale spatial heterogeneity in the late Paleocene paratropical forests of the U.S. Gulf Coast. Paleobiology 38:15-39.