 Insect conservation is a critical discipline often overlooked due to a focus on higher animals. Professor New has written more than 360 research papers and over 20 books on entomological and conservation topics,
including Insect Conservation: an Australian Perspective published by W Junk, The Hague; Introduction to Invertebrate Conservation Biology (Oxford University Press, Oxford) and Butterfly Conservation (Oxford University Press, Melbourne).
He has also given more than a dozen key presentations internationally in this field during the last decade - the latest as opening speaker at an American Museum of Natural History symposium in New York last year.
Professor New holds a BSc with first class honours and a PhD in insect ecology from the University of London. In the late 1960s he took part in Royal Society and Royal Geographical Society expeditions to Brazil. He later worked at the Research Institute for Biological Control in Ontaria, Canada, before joining La Trobe University as a lecturer in zoology. Professor New has been President of both the Australian Entomological Society and the Entomological Society of Victoria, and President of the International Society of Neuropterists. He has served on the editorial boards of many Australian and international scientific journals, including ten years until 2002 as regional editor of Biological Conservation, and is currently editor-in-chief of the Journal of Insect Conservation.
For five years, until 1992, he chaired the specialist group on butterflies and moths of the Species Survival Commission of the World Conservation Union (IUCN). The Union draws its membership from 140 countries, generating environmental conventions, global standards, as well as scientific knowledge and leadership. He also served for eight years on the Federal Government's Endangered Species Advisory Committee.
His extensive contributions to zoology have been recognised with awards including the Royal Entomological Society's Marsh Christian Trust Award for Insect Conservation in 2003, and the Ian Mackerras Medal of the Australian Entomological Society, in 1988.
Professor New is a world authority in three distinct areas of entomology. These are studying the systematics (evolutionary interrelationships, diversification and change) and biology of two groups of insects: Psocoptera, small insects that live on bark and leaves, and Neuroptera, of which the best known examples are lacewings, important predators of crop pests; as well as his expertise in insect conservation.
His research has involved extensive field work, and has taken him from South America to the Indonesian volcanic island of Krakatao, and many parts of the Pacific region.
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