Group research focus

Our research focuses on the evolution, ecology and physiology of sexual reproduction. Specifically, we’re interested in how the environment (social and physical) influences the ecology and evolution of reproductive traits and how interactions between the environment and reproductive traits can generate biodiversity and lead to speciation. Within this focus our research also addresses questions regarding how individuals both within species (i.e. males and females) and between species (i.e. Hosts and sexually transmitted infections) coevolve.

Teaching and research achievements

Managing to stay gainfully employed and continuing love my job despite a highly competitive research environment and continuous feelings of inadequacy.

What do you enjoy most about teaching /OR/ What is your teaching focus?

I’m excited to be teaching on a number of field courses in 2018 and to continue to help undergraduates conduct their own research projects through the PhB program. I think hands on experience in the lab and field is essential for equipping the next generation of scientists with the experience and skills that they will need to conduct fundamental research and solve societal issues associated with rapid environmental change.

What else do you have underway?

As a part of my Future fellowship I am trying to establish eucalypt leaf beetles as a new model system for studying the coevolutionary dynamics of hosts and their sexually transmitted infections. This is a departure from my previous research because it involves working on interactions between multiple species. I’m excited by the prospect of developing a model system from scratch and the challenges and opportunities this will present me.

• This profile first appeared in the RSB Newsletter, Issue 92, November 2017.