UEA graduate wins ecology prize for curlew conservation
By: Communications
A University of East Anglia (UEA) master’s graduate, Caleb Stradling, has won the 2025 Bishop of Norwich Prize for Ecology for his conservation work with curlews.
The £1,000 prize is awarded to the UEA student achieving the highest marks for a master’s dissertation in Applied Ecology and Conservation.
Caleb chose his area of study after working with an organisation dedicated to saving the birds from extinction, where he “became enchanted by the curlew and its evocative bubbling song”.
UEA gave Caleb the perfect base to explore his interests, saying: “A love of birds and ornithology brought me to Norfolk and I had the pleasure of meeting and working with many brilliant ornithologists at UEA.”
He is now working full time for Curlew Country in Shropshire where the skills he gained in his MSc, analysing how vegetation and agricultural practises influence curlew survival, are already having a positive effect.
The Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Revd Graham Usher, who studied ecology at university himself and is the Lead Bishop for Environment for the Church of England, said: “As a Christian, it is my calling to care for God’s creation, and it is a privilege to be able to support this kind of research.
“Caleb’s work is giving curlews the best chance of survival and helping make it possible that generations to come will be able to delight in the beautiful curlew call.”
Professor Simon Butler, course director for the MSc in Applied Ecology and Conservation at UEA, said: “The award is a really valuable recognition of our students’ hard work. It means a lot to students who often put themselves into quite challenging financial positions in order to progress in this kind of career.
“It’s great to know that there are people who understand our work and care about what we are doing. Most of us go into this field for the public good side of things and to have people who recognise the value of what is being done is really encouraging.”
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