ASE Ecology Student Zann Teo wins "Regional" Global Undergraduate Award for SG Dung Beetle Checklist

The TEE Lab is thrilled to congratulate ASE 4th year ecology specialisation student and NTU President Scholar, Zann Teo for being named the Regional Winner from Asia under the Earth and Environment Science category in the Global Undergraduate Awards 2022 Programme for her URECA AY 21/22 (Undergraduate Research Programme) study "Checklist of dung beetles of Singapore".

The Global Undergraduate Awards is an internationally academic awards programme that recognises originality, innovation and excellence at the undergraduate level and Zann has been recognised as the highest performing Highly commended Entrant from Asia in her category. Her project was undertaken within the Tropical Ecology and Entomology (TEE) Lab and supervised by PI Dr Eleanor Slade.

Zann Teo receiving her award at the GUA Summit in Dublin, Ireland

In Singapore, the study of dung beetles are limited and our knowledge of the species present is not comprehensive. The goal of Zann Teo's study was to fill up this knowledge gap by documenting the presence of dung beetles species in Singapore's forests and parks and creating a checklist of dung beetles for Singapore, a first for the country. With this species checklist, Zann's efforts also aims to highlight the importance of dung beetles to our ecosystems and raise awareness of their presence within our landscapes. The checklist will also help guide biologists and conservation managers to come up with meaningful actions and wise decisions to advance biodiversity conservation here in our island city.

To find out more about her journey of creating the Singapore Dung Beetle Species Checklist, you can check out her blog posts here: Part 1, Part 2.

Zann's poster on the Checklist of Dung Beetle of Singapore

For her excellent study, Zann was awarded as Regional Winner for Asia by an international panel of expert judges and she was invited to attend the GUA Summit 2022 in Dublin, Ireland to present her poster to an international audience.

In addition to that she was also invited to pitch and communicate her research at the 2022 International Conference of Undergraduate Research (ICUR), which involves hundreds of international students from dozens institutions from all around the world.

The TEE Lab is beyond proud of your remarkable achievements. For whatever you strive, may you always thrive Zann!!