British Ornithologists' Union – Early Professional Award 2025

Abstract

British Ornithologists' Union (BOU) members and IBIS readers could be forgiven for being surprised to find that Dr Oliver (Ollie) Padget was even eligible to receive this year's BOU Early Professional Award, such has been his presence and contribution to the ornithology community. However, his multiple successes in research, community activities, mentorships and engagement have all been achieved in just a few short years. Ollie is undoubtedly a future star of UK ornithology, and this award is very well deserved.

Ollie was a birdwatcher from a very young age while growing up in Merseyside. His passion for natural history and the natural sciences led him to study zoology as an undergraduate in Nottingham, where he won both the School prize and University prize. He also started bird-ringing during this time. He graduated in 2013 before going straight on to his PhD in Oxford within the OxNav group. He continued at Oxford as a lecturer and junior research fellow, before returning to Merseyside at the University of Liverpool in 2023. This was made possible by not only landing a permanent role on the academic staff, but simultaneously through the award of a prestigious Royal Society University Research Fellowship.

It was during his time at Oxford that Ollie developed the fascination for avian cognition and navigation that underpins his portfolio of past and ongoing research. His PhD work focused on navigation in procellariform seabirds, specifically Manx Shearwaters. Here he tested longstanding ideas about avian navigation that had previously only been tested in pigeons. He demonstrated that, like pigeons, shearwaters use a sun compass and olfaction as key mechanisms when travelling vast distances over the open ocean to and from their breeding sites. His work also suggested for the first time that shearwaters maintain a map-like understanding of their location and distance from home in their navigation and decision-making.

More recently, Ollie has been working on and developing applied science projects with shearwaters. This includes ongoing work on the Balearic Shearwater, Europe's most endangered seabird, and on the potential impacts of offshore wind farms on Manx Shearwaters. He has also continued various projects and collaborations on behaviour and navigation in Manx Shearwaters. New work on the heathlands of southern England focuses on habitat use, foraging and cognition in European Nightjars, this time in the context of land-use change and development.

While pursuing his research in the field, Ollie also developed his skills and abilities as a mentor and teacher. He has co-supervised and supervised several PhD students who have gone on to research and academic roles. His infectious enthusiasm and endless patience for sharing his knowledge have already inspired a generation of new researchers, who all owe their knowledge and career development, in part, to the early support Ollie gave them on the UK's heaths and seabird islands, alongside conducting his own research. Ollie's role at Liverpool is, for now, research-focused, yet again he has gone out of his way to become involved in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching. As a tutor and project supervisor he has already developed the interests of a number of students who might never have thought that birds were interesting. He has also initiated new activities on field classes and contributed to the review of our curriculum. Like many of us, Ollie sometimes has trouble saying ‘no’, but we all benefit from his ideas and expertise.

Outside the University environment, Ollie's role in mentorship and community is driven primarily via the British Trust for Ornithology bird-ringing scheme. He works with the Merseyside Ringing Group on their various sites and acts as trainer to new ringers. Recently he has secured funding from the Royal Society to run an innovative scheme Access2Nature (https://opadget.wixsite.com/my-site-1) that offers a transformative experience for care-experienced young individuals on an immersive programme focusing on climate change, habitat loss and pollution. This programme is offered at, and in partnership with, Copeland Bird Observatory, where he is a Duty Officer. This is consistent with Ollie's belief that anyone and everyone should have the chance to be as excited by birds and the amazing things that they do as he is.

Not one for the limelight or to hog attention, Ollie is more likely to support the work and aspirations of others than promote his own interests and achievements. However, such sustained excellence should be celebrated and recognized by our community, and his actions and attitude to all aspects of ornithology should act as an inspiration to others.