Nov 8, 2007, 11:00 GMT
Sydney - Australia's famed 'Crocodile Hunter' Steve Irwin is to receive a posthumous professorship from Queensland University for his work with wild animals, it was announced Thursday.
Steve Irwin - 2003 © Glenn Harris / Photorazzi
Irwin died a year ago at the age of 44 in a freak diving accident on Australia's east coast when a stingray's barb pierced his heart.
The adjunct professorship will be conferred in Brisbane next week in honour of Irwin's scientific research with crocodiles.
Craig Franklin, a crocodile expert and a close friend of the late documentary maker and environmentalist, said the university had decided to honour Irwin before his death.
'Notification of the honour was waiting for Steve at Australia Zoo, but sadly, he never returned to find out the good news,' Franklin said. 'This presentation now gives us the opportunity to publicly recognize his remarkable contribution to research and conservation.'
Irwin's widow, Terri, is to accept the award. 'I am very proud because this honours Steve as a scientist in his own right and recognizes Steve's ongoing research work,' she said in a statement.
Irwin - who got his nickname from the name of his wildlife television show, which was shown around the world - worked with Franklin on a satellite crocodile-tracking project that began five years ago.
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