I started my research training in 2000, conducting an Honours project investigating activity patterns and foraging in Eurasian lynx. This was a joint project between Uppsala University, Sweden, and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU). After that, I moved on to do a PhD (2002-2006) at Uppsala University, Sweden, working on a project exploring behavioural ecology and population dynamics in a social bird species, the Siberian jay (Perisoreus infaustus). The focus of this work was to explore how behaviour and social group-living influenced life-history traits and dispersal, and how these processes interacted with external factors to determine population dynamics across a heterogeneous environment. Some of the output from this work can be found here found here , here and here.

Spending four years exploring the intriguing and complex behaviours and population dynamics of jays, I wanted to home in more on the underlying mechanisms driving life-history traits, and ultimately population dynamics. Hence, I went across to the University of Western Australia on a Swedish Research Council (VR) funded postdoc, to work with Prof. Leigh Simmons, on one of his key study systems, the Australian Field cricket (Teleogryllus oceanicus). This work took a largely quantitative genetic approach to the study of life-history, exploring how the thermal environment influenced the genetic architecture in these organisms. More details of this work can be found here and here.

Upon completion of this work, I was fortunate enough to receive a three year Australia Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship (ARC APD), and a Margaret Clayton Women in Research Postdoctoral Fellowship to continue to pursue my research interests. Hence, in 2012 I started working at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. More details on this work can be found under Current research.

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