BSc Biology, University of Dundee
MSc Queen's University Belfast
MSc Queen's University Belfast
Recent publications [here]
I completed my degree in Biology in 2014 from the University of Dundee. The title for my final project was the ‘Investigation of a PCR technique to sex Apodemus sylvaticus and how their home ranges are affected by harvest’ which was carried out at the James Hutton Institute. I was required to establish the sex of wood mice by extracting and amplifying DNA from hair samples using PCR techniques, followed by an agarose gel electrophoresis and examining the results using a UV transilluminator for the presence of the SRY gene, present in males.
I then went to Queen’s University Belfast to complete my MSc in Animal Behaviour and Welfare. My research project aimed to establish if lion vocalisations were significantly individualised and could therefore be used to identify individuals. This was achieved by comparing lion calls recorded in Botswana by the Botswana Predator Conservation Trust using discriminate function analysis.
After completing my masters I spent six mouths in South Africa as a nature guide intern, I then worked in a science and discovery centre in Belfast before starting my PhD at the University of Liverpool in October 2017.
The project title is ‘A new approach to non-invasive monitoring of cryptic mammals’, it is funded by BBSRC and will involve the analysis of biological samples using rapid evaporative ionisation mass spectrometry.
I currently volunteer as outreach manager/editor for Liverpool’s undergraduate life science journal "Insider Imprint". The journal is run by PhD students and we publish research articles and reviews written by undergraduate students. [HERE]