CV

Achievements and Experience

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Academic position

Lecturer of Animal Sciences, Writtle University College                          2022-present

 

Education

University of York , Department of Biology                                            2016 – 2021

            PhD student, Department of Biology

Topic: How does individual variation affect group level behaviour in social invertebrates

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University College London                                                                  2014-2015

MRes Biodiversity, Evolution and Conservation (Distinction)

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University of Edinburgh                                                                      2011-2014

Biological Sciences (Developmental and Cell Biology) (BSc Hons)

 

Awards

2022- Knowledge Exchange partnership grant to investigate edible invertebrates (£31k)

2018 - Scientific Exploration Society Inspirational Explorer of the Year Award (£3k)

2018 - University of York Biology KM Scott Prize for Best Student Research Impact

 

Lecturing (select):

  • Invited speaker to give the Irene Manton Lecture (2020) Royal Society of Biology and Linnean Society on “Metamorphosis” - a lecture on the study of caterpillars and women in science.

  • Lecture at the Royal Geographic Society (2020) “On the Trail of the Titans” (later recorded for Geography Now)  - a lecture on the expedition led to study titan beetles.

  • Invited speaker and panellist for the Royal Geographic Society Explore Conference (2019) as a tropical fieldwork expert.

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Expedition leadership

 

  • 2019:     Project/expedition leader of the Cash of the Titans. This project based in French Guiana gathered the first behavioural data on the largest beetle in the world, the titan (Titanus giganteus).  

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  • 2013:            Expedition leader to the Peruvian Amazon. Planned, organised, secured funding for and led a University of Edinburgh research expedition on the impact of farming methods on local butterfly biodiversity.

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Other work

  • 2022:      Invertebrate Scientist for Operation Wallacea, Fiji.

    • This staff position involved mapping the distribution of one of the rarest butterflies in the world, the Natewa Swallowtail. 

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  • January 2019-2022:  Research and Analysis Support Officer at TRAFFIC

    • This position involved analysing legal and illegal wildlife trade data.​​

 

  •  2016:    Research Assistant at the University of Cambridge and University of Western Sydney

    • Assisted social network analysis of passerines, as well as carrying out fieldwork in Kosciuszko National Park to help investigate defences of the mountain katydid in response to wild Australian magpies.

 

  •  2014:      Invertebrate Scientist for Operation Wallacea, Honduras.

    • This staff position involved working in the cloud forest in Cuzuco National Park carrying research into beetle communities.