Dr Joe Wynn

Joe is a research fellow in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Ecological Sciences.

What attracted you to apply for a University of Liverpool Research Fellowship?

Coming to the end of my post-doc on bird migratory genomics, I was particularly keen to take steps to become a more independent researcher. I was also hoping to move somewhere to a city that would be really good fun to live in, so Liverpool seemed to fit the bill in every sense.

What is your research about and what types of scientific techniques do you make use of?

My research seeks to understand the mechanisms that allow birds to inherit long-distance migratory trajectories. This involves studying both cultural inheritance (inheritance via social learning from experienced conspecifics) - which I do using high-resolution biologgers - as well as genetic inheritance (for which I mostly use next-generation sequencing technology).

By studying this I hope to understand what limitations are placed on birds’ migratory flexibility in the face of rapid environmental change, which in turn I hope will help inform policy decisions.

What or who first inspired you to be interested in your research subject?

Rather embarrassingly I’ve been interested in bird navigation as long as I can remember. I remember talking to the warden at the old Inner Marsh Farm nature reserve on the Dee Estuary about it, and whilst I’ve had various attempts to pursue other avenues of research I always return to this question.

I’ve always found Nico Tinbergen very inspiring, not just for his work but for the way he managed to be such a remarkable person in spite of his well-documented battle with his mental health. I really like that he’s not a brushed chrome scientific automaton, but rather a real person with real problems. I find this much more inspiring than if he’d have just found it all straightforward.

What are you most proud of achieving during your research career so far?

I find it quite difficult to take pride in my work, but I am quite pleased with how we’ve organised our sampling network for my work on the genomics of bird migration.

We have a network of enthusiastic birdwatchers and scientists stretching from Iberia to the Baltic, all working together purely because of our shared passion for birds. Given the way European politics feels at the moment these sorts of things somehow feel significant.

Which other subjects are important for your research?

Our research is by definition a pretty broad church. To be successful we need to work with everyone from bioinformaticians, laboratory scientists and statisticians to fieldworkers, ecologists and even engineers.

This is always one of the things I like about fundamental research, you never know who you’re going to meet and what you’re going to end up learning.

What is the key to running a successful research project?

In my (very limited) experience, successful collaboration is built on respect and empathy. I think it’s important to try to make sure everyone has ownership of the project, feels comfortable contributing intellectually and is remunerated commensurate to their efforts. I feel this is particularly important during fieldwork abroad, but I suspect I’ll be learning a lot more about this topic over the next few years.

How do you plan to develop your research in the future?

I’m at a position in my work where I really need to see what the next few analyses yield before I decide. But in principle It’ll involve a lot of catching birds, tagging them, extracting their DNA and sequencing it.

What advice would you give to someone considering a career in research?

It sounds a bit trite, but genuinely I think that if you’re passionate about your work then you should seriously consider going for it. I routinely worry about not being clever enough for this sort of thing, but I think being the most brilliant person in the room is overrated.

Research isn’t for everyone, it can be incredibly demoralising and the rejections can be hurtful, but having a half decent idea and going about investigating it in an organised way can be incredibly rewarding.

Where can readers learn more about your research?

Probably on Bluesky? I don’t have a website, but I probably should make one.