A bequest of $12.6m from Professor Aola Richards, a remarkable pioneering entomologist, whose research fundamentally shaped our knowledge of Australasian insect fauna, is creating the Aola Richards Sydney Insect Hub at the University of Sydney. 

“Professor Richards, the first woman in New Zealand to gain a PhD in biology, who went on to a lifetime of achievement in insect study, has entrusted us with her vision of continuing important research in this field, including with critical funding for early- and mid-career researchers, and the appointment of a Chair,” Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Mark Scott said.  

“We are deeply grateful for this donation to the University, establishing the Sydney Insect Hub. Insects sit at the centre of most terrestrial ecosystems and hold a deep fascination for the general public. The generosity of Professor Richards will allow us to continue her mission to contribute meaningfully to urgent matters in biodiversity, conservation and sustainability across Australia and globally.” 

Professor Richards specialised in Australian ladybird beetles and New Zealand cave wētā (crickets), once spending seven weeks underground in the Waikato caves of New Zealand, with only cave wētā and water rats for company. The wētā, which can measure up to 35cm (from antennae tip to back legs) avoid light so Aola had to turn off her torch for extended periods and observe them in the dark. 

She was a key figure in connecting entomology research with the scientific study and exploration of caves (speleology) in Australia and New Zealand. She studied cave crickets and glow worms in the caves of Tasmania and also studied fauna in the huge caves beneath the Nullabor Plain, driving a Land Rover across Australia accompanied by two students.

She spent 33 years in the Biology Department at the University of New South Wales and published more than 80 papers, many as sole author. She described over 20 new species while making discoveries about insect behaviour and ecology. 

“This donation allows us to build on the outstanding work of our current entomologists at the University by advancing insect ecology, evolution, genomics and applied entomology. It will also support sustainable agriculture, an issue Professor Richards strongly believed entomologists could play a leading role in, as well as biodiversity and biosecurity,” said Associate Professor Thomas White, Inaugural Chair of the Sydney Insect Hub. 

“Her enduring legacy will not only be her remarkable body of work that anchors modern taxonomy and natural history but this generous act to secure the future of her field.  It is Australia’s first hub dedicated to training the next generation of insect scientists through training, scholarships, fellowships and grants, working across the full breadth of entomology.”

Professor Richards bequest will be applied to research on:

• how insect pollinator communities function and can be harnessed for sustainable agriculture including biological control

• tackling invasive species ecology and biosecurity threats, including the impact of invasive parasites on the viral landscape of honey bees

• how insects perceive their world, evaluate options and translate information into action

• how invertebrate communities and ecological networks persist under environmental change, and how to conserve not only species but the interactions that sustain ecosystems

• understanding insect ecology and evolution in a changing world 

• advancing taxonomy, classification, natural history and species discovery.

“Aola Richards achieved excellence in entomology at a time when the field was heavily male-dominated. She devoted her life to deepening our knowledge of insects and her groundbreaking research is an inspiration. She is truly one of the giants of Australian entomology and her legacy of excellence will now also live on through her generous bequest,” said Associate Professor Tanya Latty, from the Faculty of Science and Sydney Insect Hub. 

Meanwhile Professor Richards’ gift is already supporting entomology students following the completion of their higher degree by research. 

Two beneficiaries of this funding have been Dr Braxton Jones,  the only Australian scientist wholly dedicated to studying stick insects and  Zhuzhi Zhang, who works on cockroach phylogenetics (evolutionary relationship between organisms). 

Dr Jones is receiving funding from the Aola Richards Bequest to substantially support his three-year National Taxonomy Research Grant Fellowship. 

"The generous funding has allowed me to continue my research focused on discovering new species of Australian stick and leaf insects, focusing on arid adapted species." 

Sydney Insect Hub team

• Associate Professor Thomas White (Chair)

• Associate Professor Tanya Latty

• Professor Dieter Hochuli

• Professor Nathan Lo

• Dr Emily Remnant

• Dr Timothy Lee

• Dr Ros Gloag

Further biography

Professor Aola Richards (1927–2021) was born in Wellington and trained in zoology there completing an MSc in 1954 and, in 1958, becoming the first woman in New Zealand to earn a PhD in biological science. She worked at UNSW for more than three decades before retiring to London in 1994. A cave wētā species, Miotopus richardsae, was named in her honour in 2018. 

Professor Richards’ estate has contributed to two other research institutions globally, establishing an Aola Richards Fund at the Department of Zoology at the University of Cambridge and the School of Biological Sciences at Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington. She gifted much of her insect collection to the CSIRO.