Glittering prizes

John Sloboda, professor of psychology and founder and director of Keele University's unit for the study of musical skill, has received this year's British Psychological Society Presidents' Award for distinguished contributions to psychological knowledge.

Edgar Stones, honorary senior research fellow in the school of psychology at the University of Birmingham and fellow of the institute for advanced research in the arts and social sciences, has been awarded the 1998 award for distinguished contributions to the teaching of psychology.

Leo Jeffcott, dean of Cambridge Veterinary School, has been appointed a member of the Bureau of the Federation Equestre Internationale and chairman of the Veterinary Committee for the next four years. He is the first British vet to hold the office.

Peter Lachman, professor in Cambridge's microbial immunology group, has been appointed president of the Academy of Medical Sciences.

Kim Economides, reader in law at the University of Exeter, has been elected a fellow of the Canon Foundation, a fellow of the Society for Advanced Legal Studies, and a member of the new Civil Justice Council sub-committee on litigant information.