The University of Melbourne Botany Foundation (established in 1994) supports excellence in education and research in the discipline of botany. The Foundation provides a number of student scholarships, awards and prizes annually to support students and researchers in Botany.
Established by friends and associates of Dr Sophie Charlotte Ducker AM BSc MSc DSc LLB (Hons). From an early age Dr Sophie Ducker was interested in plants, and hoped to become a botanist after studying at Geneva and Stuttgart universities. The Second World War forced Dr Ducker and her family to leave Germany. They settled in Australia, and in 1944 she was able to resume her botanical career when she became a research assistant to the pioneering mycologist, Ethel McLennan, at the University of Melbourne. Dr Ducker remained in the then school of Botany for 30 years, completing a BSc and MSc, while at the same time demonstrating, teaching, supervising students, and establishing courses in phycology. She nominally retired in 1974 as a reader, but continued to lecture, give papers at international conferences, and to undertake scientific research with colleagues. In 1978 she was awarded a doctor of Science (DSc) by the University, in recognition of her published work, and in 1993 the University awarded her an honorary doctor of Laws (LLD). In 1996 she was awarded the Mueller Medal by the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS), which was named in honour of Ferdinand von Mueller, botanist and pioneer environmentalist. In 1997 Dr Ducker was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for service to recording the history of botany in Australia, to education and to science, particularly in the field of marine botany. Dr Ducker died on 20 May 2004 at the age of 95.
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