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CATZ FELLOWSDr Tommaso PizzariTutor in Zoology, awarded Philip Leverhulme PrizeThe College extends its warmest congratulations to Tommaso Pizzari,who has been awarded a Philip Leverhulme Prize. The prize, worth £70,000,commemorates the contribution made to the work of the Leverhulme Trustby Philip, Viscount Leverhulme (the grandson of the Trust's founder).Approximately twenty-five prizes are awarded each year to outstandingscholars – usually under the age of thirty-five – whose substantial contributionsto their particular field of study have been recognised at national andinternational level and who are expected to continue to excel in the future.Tom has been awarded his prize for research undertaken on sexual selection.Sexual selection is a pervasive biological processthat leads to the evolution of extravagant traitssuch as the chorus of birds, crickets or frogs, thetrain of the peacock, the antler of the stag, andflashy sports cars, or anything else that givesan edge in the competition for reproductivepartners. Understanding the mechanismspromoting such extravagant sexual strategiesnot only provides a unique insight intoDarwinian evolution, but is also critical tomanaging better reproduction in populationsthreatened by extinction, to improving thewelfare of domestic species, and to controllingpopulations that could otherwise become a pest.It is also important that we understand sexualselection if we want to address fertility problemsand the spread of sexually-transmitted diseasesin human societies.My work studies different aspects of sexualselection and the way male and femalestrategies co-evolve with each other. I amparticularly interested in the evolutionaryramifications of female sexual promiscuity whichpromotes competition between the ejaculates ofdifferent males and enables females to controlpaternity by biasing sperm utilisation. Using acombination of experimental work, physiologicaland molecular tools, and the promiscuous fowlGallus gallus as a model species, we have beenable to show that both males and females usesophisticated – and often counteracting –strategies of sperm utilisationto maximise their reproductive success.The Philip Leverhulme Prize will launch myresearch towards the next level, and will enableme to branch out in exciting new directions.These include the use of genomic and proteomictools to study molecular evolution of sexuallyselected genes, the application of networktheory to capture the dynamics of sexualnetworks within populations, and the mergingof kin selection and sexual-selection theory toidentify the conditions leading to evolutionaryconflict or cooperation between the sexes.The Philip Leverhulme Prizewill launch my researchtowards the next level, andwill enable me to branch outin exciting new directions.54/DR TOMMASO PIZZARI