Skills

R

Statistics, data visualisation, GIS/mapping, data wrangling

Molecular ecology

PCR, Illumina MiSeq, qPCR, DNA extraction

Bioinformatics

Quality control, big data, taxonomy assignment, OTU clustering

Experience

 
 
 
 
 
May 2020 – Present
Essex, UK

Research Fellow - IADS

University of Essex

As an independent research fellow, I am free to pursue my own research interests in the field of microbial ecology. I am especially looking forward to delving further into the ever-increasing pile of statistical methods used to analyse microbial community data. This role will also see me taking on teaching responsibilities within the School of Life Sciences, where I will be educating students on a variety of programming and data-science related topics, in preparation for becoming a lecturer in a few years time (hopefully!).
 
 
 
 
 
October 2017 – May 2020
Essex, UK

Senior research officer - PRINCe - A new dynamic for Phosphorus in RIverbed Nitrogen Cycling

University of Essex

Porous riverbed sediments provide an important ecosystem service by cycling nitrogen from a soluble bio-available form, to an inert gas. New evidence suggests that phosphorus may determine the reaction pathways and fate of nitrogen in riverbed systems. My role as senior research officer on this project was to undertake molecular analyses of the relevant N-cycling microbial communities to determine how phosphorus, sediment structure, and microbial communities interact to process nitrogen.
 
 
 
 
 
October 2013 – September 2017
Essex, UK

PhD - The Macroecology of Microbes; From Pattern, to Process

University of Essex

My thesis research tested hypotheses on patterns of microbial diversity and distributions under the unifying theme of macroecology, using a variety of data sources and study systems. I showed that the relation- ship between temperature and microbial diversity is not consistent, and more isolated sites show markedly different patterns. I also collected the most high-resolution dataset to date on halophilic Archaea, which I used to show that these extremophilic microbes do not conform to classic biogeographic regionalisation.

Recent Publications

More Publications

Relationships between nitrogen cycling microbial community abundance and composition reveal the indirect effect of soil pH on oak decline

PDF Source Document

Bacterial Community Legacy Effects Following the Agia Zoni II Oil-Spill, Greece

PDF Source Document

Coral microbiome composition along the northern Red Sea suggests high plasticity of bacterial and specificity of endosymbiotic dinoflagellate communities

PDF Source Document

Contact

  • Lab. 3.03, School of Biological Sciences, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, Essex, CO4 3SQ, UK