Overview
My interests lie in all things entomology, but I'm particularly interested in how insects respond to and are impacted by disease.
I graduated from the University of Plymouth with BSc (Hons) Biological Sciences in 2020. During which I undertook a placement year where I worked as a curatorial assistant in an entomology laboratory, and lived in the Appenine mountains of Italy working on a bear conservation project. After graduating from my undergraduate I went on to do an MSc by Research in Entomology at Reading University.
My current research focuses on disease in honeybees, but during my degrees I had the opportunity to work on research projects involving a wide range of invertebrates, including isopod immunity, ladybird disease and colour forms, and spider biodiversity.
Research
Research interests
- Insect disease and parasitism
- Arthropod ecology
- Insect behaviour
- Invertebrate immunity
- Insect husbandry
- Insect natural products
Current research
I am currently in the third year of my NERC GW4+ funded PhD titled: The smell of infection – detecting infectious disease and determining mechanisms underlying the spread of disease in social networks. We are investigating the link between volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and invertebrate behaviour in response to disease using honey bees and woodlice.