Tanya Latty awarded with two Australian Research Council grants

The Australian Research Council, Australia’s major granting body, has awarded Branco Weiss Fellow Tanya Latty with two grants.

One grant of 541,000 AUD goes to Latty’s project called “A complex systems approach to preventing colony failure in honey bees”. This project aims to use the powerful tools of complex systems science to detect and prevent colony collapse in honey bees while advancing knowledge of tipping points in complex social systems. This will provide significant benefits for Australian agriculture while building scientific capacity in complex systems science.

A second grant of 398,000 AUD goes to a project titled “Context dependent flower choice in honey bees”. By illuminating the behavioral rules that honey bees use when choosing between multiple flowers, this project will benefit both agricultural and environmental pollination and could lead to the development of science-based strategies for attracting pollinators to specific areas.

“Getting two ARCs in one year is very rare and I am super excited about the research opportunities” says Dr. Latty. Neither project would have been possible without the support from the Branco Weiss Fellowship, she adds. “The first project was inspired by my Branco Weiss project during which I have learned a great deal about complex systems and resilience thinking. I’m now applying these ideas to the problem of bee colony collapse.” This project is a collaboration with a new research partner who was suggested to Dr. Latty by Branco Weiss Alumna Oonsie Biggs.

Read more on the Australian Research Council’s website