CV
Achievements and Experience
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
University College London 2014-2015
MRes Biodiversity, Evolution and Conservation (Distinction)
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):
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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.
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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.
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Invited speaker and panellist for the Royal Geographic Society Explore Conference (2019) as a tropical fieldwork expert.
Expedition leadership
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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.
Other work
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2022: Invertebrate Scientist for Operation Wallacea, Fiji.
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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
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This position involved analysing legal and illegal wildlife trade data.
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2016: Research Assistant at the University of Cambridge and University of Western Sydney
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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.
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2014: Invertebrate Scientist for Operation Wallacea, Honduras.
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This staff position involved working in the cloud forest in Cuzuco National Park carrying research into beetle communities.
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