I joined WildCRU as a PhD student in 2022, supported by the NERC Doctoral Training Partnership in Environmental Research and Linacre College’s EPA Cephalosporin scholarship. My PhD is in partnership with ZSL’s Institute of Zoology, with supervision from Prof Rosie Woodroffe, Prof Amy Dickman, Prof Christl Donnelly, and Dr Daniella Rabaiotti.

The aim of my PhD research is to assess potential impacts of climate change on the endangered African wild dog (Lycaon pictus). I am using a combination of spatial, behavioural, and physiological data sourced from remote sensing, accelerometer collars, and thermal data loggers, to investigate possible impacts of climate at both a range-wide and individual scale. Fieldwork has taken place in the Kalahari and KwaZulu-Natal Regions of South Africa, where I worked with the Endangered Wildlife Trust, local wildlife authorities and reserve management.

I graduated with a BSc in Biology from the University of Bristol in 2017. Over the following two years, I undertook two extended field seasons at the Dwarf Mongoose Research Project in Limpopo, South Africa, first as a Research Assistant and then as the Project Manager. This work focussed on long-term monitoring of the behavioural ecology of the species. In 2020 I then completed a MRes degree in Biodiversity, Evolution and Conservation at University College London, receiving a Distinction along with the Best Student Award and Dean’s List Award for outstanding academic achievement. The first of my two MRes research projects investigated the impacts of human & livestock encroachment on bat activity in the Maasai Mara. The second concentrated on range-wide distribution modelling of African wild dogs – this was carried out under supervision from ZSL and led on to my DPhil research. Prior to joining the NERC DTP in 2021, I worked as a consultant to the Bat Conservation Trust on a project assessing 10 years of audio data across the Island of Jersey.