Award Description: "Amateur" entomologists, arachnologists, and others contribute significant knowledge through their biological recording and collections work, recording species occurrences, range shifts, and documenting shifts in biodiversity. However, many methods used for biological recording may have negative welfare consequences for the animals and some could be candidates for potential improvements via the 3Rs (replace, reduce, or refine). We believe amateur recorders are the people best equipped to innovate on these methods and test them, but often lack the means: this award is intended to help with supplies and travel costs associated with that process of innovation, and provide support in designing a sound study and reporting the results so others can make informed decisions about refining their practice.

The amateur recorder should submit a short pitch of a way they might be able to either: 1) refine their collecting/recording practices to improve the welfare of the animals through changes in handling, anaesthesia, transport, catch and release, and/or killing methods; 2) reduce the number of animals impacted by their methods (e.g., such as by limiting bycatch in a particular trap type); or 3) replace live animal sampling with alternative methods (e.g., eDNA, photographs, etc.). The recorder selected will get support from the IWRS in designing their study to maximize the value of the data obtained, analyzing the data, and (if applicable) submitting it for publication. The most exciting innovations will document both a refined, reduced, or replaced practice and also compare any effects of that practice to prior methods on the desired knowledge that can be obtained using the practice.