PhD | Dippers as bioindicators of freshwater ecosystem health & resilience
My PhD explored the environmental basis for spatial and temporal change in riverine bird populations. This focuses primarily on White-throated Dipper (Cinclus cinclus), but also identifies patterns of change and response to environmental stressors in two other riverine bird species: Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) and Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea).
Research Assistant | Rabies monitoring & control in Tanzania
From 2017 - 2019, I worked as a as a Research Assistant in the Katie Hampson Lab, joining a team that researches many aspects of the Rabies virus primarily in Tanzania, but with collaborators worldwide. This role involved providing general support for data management, processing, visualisation and analysis using R, and Github for version control. Through this, I have had the opportunity to contribute to multiple projects that research detection, treatment access and provision, and genetic sequencing of the Rabies virus (see Outputs).
MSc Thesis | Birds, ticks, and Lyme Disease
My MSc thesis explored tick infestation in woodland passerines, and the relative important of various bird species as transmission hosts for Borrelia burgdorferi s.l., the bacterium responsible for Lyme borreliosis in humans. This project utilised mist-netting to capture birds and examine them for ticks at three sites in Central Scotland. Engorged ticks were removed for subsequent identification under microscope, and lab analysis to identify presence and predominant genospecies.