I am a currently a NERC postdoctoral researcher at the University College London (UCL) & scientific associated at Natural History Museum (NHM-London) looking at sensory systems across wasps. I have held previous positions as a Marie-Curie Fellow at UCL studying sand-wasp behaviour through gene expression and as a postdoctoral researcher (funded by FWO) at KU Leuven looking at queen pheromone evolution across social wasps, which was a follow-up of my PhD, also at KU Leuven. 

I accomplished to have my own funding during my scientific career and to be actively involved as co-supervisor in grants involving international collaboration (FWO, NERC, FAPESP). I am a committed supervisor, having supervised over the years several undergraduates, master's and PhD students and currently I co-supervise one PhD student. I teach topics related to behavioural ecology, stats and bioinformatics. As a science communicator, I engage in different outreach activities, from Soapbox Science to podcasts. 

Why study wasps?

Wasps are understudied, but they can serve as excellent model system to answer important ecological and evolutionary questions. This is why I have chosen them as my study organisms. I enjoy going to the field and combining several tools, including molecular and bioinformatics, to better understand insect behaviour.

The main project I currently am working on is to investigate insect sensory systems, specifically how wasps smell, feel, and see. Environmental changes such as light pollution and agrochemicals can disrupt their cognition, therefore understanding these sensory mechanisms is crucial for forecasting and mitigating these impacts. The project investigates their sensory and genomic adaptations to predict their prey and roles in ecosystems (NERC NE/Y001397/1). 

During my previous Marie Curie fellowship, I studied the evolution of wasp sociality by tracing the ancestral origins of pre-social behaviour in Ammophila wasps, i.e. understanding how complex sociality may have evolved based on species with simple parental care behaviours. It is still in progress, but I am comparing genomic traits of mass and progressive provisioning behaviours. This will shed light on the division of labour in the evolution of sociality (101028937).

Other key project themes & project collaborations include:

1. Queen Pheromones in Social Insects

2. Genomics and Chemical Ecology

3. Origins of Caste: project led by Prof. Tom Wenseleers and my co-supervised student Anneline Mattens KU Leuven.

4. Hormonal signalling pathways in social insect evolution

5. Population structure of native insects

6. Change negative perception of wasps among the general public

7. Sphecophiles