Droevendaalsesteeg 10
6708 PB Wageningen
The Netherlands
About
How have species adapted to thrive in man-made environments? I use molecular, morphological and behavioural approaches to understand the consequences of anthrodependency for commensal sparrow species
Biography
My academic career began at the University of Nottingham, where I completed an Integrated Master’s degree in Biology. During this time, I completed two major projects: an undergraduate project investigating host-parasitoid interactions between fruit flies and parasitoid wasps and a Master’s project investigating signatures of selection in digestion-associated genes across a range of sparrow (sub)species.
After this, I spent a brief period as a Research Assistant at the Sanger Institute, working on a pipeline responsible for providing sequence information on current and emerging variants of COVID-19.
Deciding my work with sparrows was not yet complete, I moved to the Netherlands in 2022 to start my PhD at NIOO. My current work is still heavily focused on understanding dietary adaptation of the house sparrow to human environments but I am also interested in understanding the consequences of anthrodependency and urbanization on the microbiome, behaviour and immune function of these birds.
Research groups
Projects & collaborations
Featured in
-
Ruth Fawthrop
The combination of an impressive building and welcoming colleagues quickly helped me feel at home in Wageningen.