The World Federation for Culture Collections invites applications from young micro-bial taxonomists for the WFCC Skerman Award for Taxonomy. The Award was established to honour the contribution made by Professor V. B. D. Sker-man to bacterial taxonomy, to the establishment of the WFCC World Data Centre on Microorganisms, and to the development of the WFCC.

The aim of the Award is to encourage taxonomic research by young micro-biolo-gists and to reward excellence in taxonomic research and significant contribu-tions to the discipline.

The successful recipient of the Award will receive a prize of $2000 together with a return economy class airfare and registration costs to attend the Ninth International Congress for Culture Collections to be held in Brisbane, Australia, during the period 23-28 July, 2000, and will be invited to deliver the Skerman Award Lecture on their research. The recipient will also receive a certificate of the Award.

Applicants should normally be less than 40 years of age at the time of appli-ca-tion. Applicants should provide a Curriculum Vitae, a list of research publica-tions, the names and addresses of two referees familiar with their research who have agreed to act as referees, and copies of their three most significant re-search publications.

Applications should be submitted to: