Lab Alumni 

I started my academic career at Bangor University, where I studied my BSc Zoology with Animal Behaviour. My journey at Salford University began with my MSc in Wildlife Conservation, where I was lucky enough to travel to Costa Rica to undertake biodiversity monitoring of herpetofauna. During my MSc dissertation I became passionate about eDNA metabarcoding and used it to monitor water voles (Arvicola amphibius) and American mink (Neovison vison) in natural rivers in Essex, working closely with the Essex Wildlife Trust. After my MSc, I started my PhD as an industrially sponsored iCase at Salford University in partnership with NatureScot, Essex Wildlife Trust and Peoples Trust for Endangered Species. I will be working towards using eDNA as a cost-effective, real-world application for detecting and monitoring mammals in the UK. I will be involving citizen scientists in different stages of the project in order to conduct eDNA surveys over large spatial and temporal scales to detect whole mammalian communities.

Email: h.a.broadhurst@edu.salford.ac.uk

Twitter: @BroadhurstHolly

Instagram: @PinkHaired_Scientist

I completed my BSc in Zoology w/ Marine Biology at the University of Salford and wrote my final year dissertation on Genetic species identification and effective population size estimation of Pacific eels. Throughout this research project and my overall degree, I developed an ever-increasing interest in both molecular and population genetics that I knew I needed to pursue. I was fortunate that I was able to remain in Salford for my MRes, where I am currently using eDNA metabarcoding techniques to detect marine mammal species in the Mediterranean Sea, and how primer choice could affect the results. I am glad that I get to work in such a dynamic field of research and be surrounded with great people!

Email:  e.e.smith1@edu.salford.ac.uk

Twitter: @ELINSMITHEY

I was an Industrial Sponsored PhD student that working on genetic approaches to reduce illegal trading of shark and ray products in Indonesia. This project is a collaboration between the University of Salford and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF), the Republic of Indonesia, and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Indonesia Program; and is funded by the Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT) Challenge Fund. I completed my B.Sc in fisheries science fromthe IPB University, Indonesia in 2009 and have my M.Sc in fisheries biology and management from James Cook University, Australia in 2016. Currently, I am study leave employee that works as researcher at the Center for Fisheries Research, Agency for Marine and Fisheries Research and Human Resources, Ministry for Marine Affairs and Fisheries - Republic of Indonesia.

Email: a.p.prasetyo@edu.salford.ac.uk

Twitter: @dhika_fishery

Website: https://dhikafishery.wixsite.com/fish 

Tim Noyes was a split site PhD student based at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences. His work focuses on using environmental DNA (eDNA) to determine the spatial and temporal trends of mesophotic fish communities in Bermuda. He is interested in the environmental drivers of fish biodiversity in these deeper reef systems. When Tim is not conducting his PhD studies, he is performing his role as a Research Specialist within the Coral Reef Ecological and Optics Lab (CREOL). Tim works mainly on Bermuda centric projects on behalf of the Bermuda Government through the Marine Environmental Program.

Email: Tim.Noyes@bios.edu

Twitter: @FieldNoyes

I recently graduated from the University of Leeds studying Geography and wrote my dissertation on invasive and native gecko interactions on Utila Island, Honduras. This research project fuelled my drive to pursue postgraduate research and expand my knowledge in the field of ecology and conservation. My passion for herpetofauna (reptile and amphibians) also led me to volunteer at the Manchester Museum Vivarium for two years during my degree. It was through Matt (current PhD researcher) that I heard about this MRes project using eDNA to detect and monitor amphibians at the University of Salford and knew I had to go for it! I’m excited to be a part of this rapidly developing area of research and am looking forward to contributing to it.

Email:  adavison.anna@gmail.com

Twitter: @amdecology

I am currently undertaking an MRes at Salford working towards the validation of eDNA metabarcoding of UK mammals. Here I will be working alongside the Essex Wildlife Trust to discover what effects invasive species (such as American mink) have on native populations in Essex. I completed my BSc at Salford in Wildlife Conservation with Zoo Biology which included two placements in Brazil and Spain. I carried out field work in the Atlantic Forest on neotropical primates, where my research focused on population abundance and distribution. In Spain I worked with captive primates looking at behaviour and rehabilitation. I love carrying out my own research and am interested in behavioural ecology, conservation, biodiversity monitoring and population genetics.

Twitter: @JennaLavin

My journey at the University of Salford began in my undergraduate degree in Wildlife Conservation with Zoo Biology. In my last year of study I was lucky enough to travel to the Amazon rainforest in Brazil to undertake biodiversity monitoring of the local flora and fauna. Being able to have a hands-on experience in conservation inspired me to continue my studies at the UoS with a Masters by Research. Working with teams from WildCRU and The Vincent Wildlife Trust we will be using both camera traps and eDNA metabarcoding to try and successfully detect and monitor the critically endangered European mink, Mustela lutreola, and the invasive American mink, Neovison vison, in the northern regions of Spain. I am quite excited to be able to study these carnivorous mammals, even though it’ll only be on a molecular scale. I am hoping that eDNA will be successful in detecting both the European and American mink, along with a wide range of other semi-aquatic and terrestrial mammals, to assist in validating eDNA as an efficient, non-invasive mammal monitoring method.

Twitter: @PollyLBolton

After completing my BSc in Zoology in UCD, I landed a managerial role in wild animal rehabilitation in a reserve in South Africa. Here is where I became involved with animal rehabilitation, game capture, control of alien species, wildlife monitoring and breeding. An unanticipated desire to return to academia led me back to Dublin to complete my MSc in Evolutionary Biology in 2016. Immediately after my MSc I started my PhD in Salford working towards conserving Ireland’s smallest mammal, the pygmy shrew (Sorex minutus). Using various molecular and morphological approaches, my goal is to establish how diet, disease and selection influence such a small mammal invasion-extinction event.

Twitter: @ShrewlockHolmes

After completing my BSc in wildlife and practical conservation, I have stayed in Salford to undergo an MRes studying fish biodiversity in the River Mersey. Having spent time in Brazilian Amazon and in the forests of Malawi in Africa, connectivity in habitats has become a keen interest of mine. This along with my love of fishing has “reeled” me into a research project that combines both. My project will combine both eDNA and camera technology to monitor species diversity in the river, along with an assessment of fish passage connectivity success. The aim is to find a way of monitoring fish with non-invasive methods that will give a comprehensive data set, leading to effective management on the Mersey. 

Twitter: @perks91

After completing my BSc in Zoology at Salford university I am now continuing study through an MRes under the supervision of Ilaria Coscia and Allan McDevitt. I have a love for all animals and an interest in the use of genomics, particularly with the aim of understanding human impact on wild populations. This interest has now drawn me to a project investigating the genomics of deep sea fish, Molva molva and Molva dypterygia. With data which has already been generated, I will study aspects such as population connectivity and local adaptation. This may then have inferences for management of these species, and therefore aid in the approach of fisheries on deep sea populations.

Twitter: @Lydia_McGill

I completed my degree in Biological Sciences at UEMG and my MSc in Zoology at PUC-Minas in Brazil, where I had the opportunity to work on terrestrial mammal monitoring and conservation, primate behavioural ecology, and bioacoustics. In 2015, I have started my PhD in University of Salford continuing my work towards Neotropical primates’ conservation. Combining remote sensing methods (camera traps and passive acoustic monitoring) and molecular genetics approaches, my goal is to provide a population assessment of the critically endangered northern muriqui (Brachyteles hypoxanthus) in one of the last strongholds of the species. This study may improve the assessment and monitoring of arboreal primates in tropical forests and the knowledge on the current genetic diversity of this population provide a baseline for understanding the potential effects of landscape may have on its long-term viability, and how this might inform management strategies toward species conservation.

Twitter: @marikaizer

My PhD project is about species introduction in a poorly studied basin located in southeast Brazil and further hybridization process among native and non-native species.  The Curimatá, Prochilodus hartii (Characiformes: Prochilodontidae) is one of the most abundant fish species of the Jequitinhonha River Basin and was found to be threatened by hybridization with introduced congeneric species. Therefore, in order to comprehensively understand the consequences of fish introductions and the mechanisms of hybridization with native congeneric species, we propose the combined application of molecular genetics, morphological identification and reproductive analyses to investigate the hybrid fitness in order to understand the consequences of a biological invasion and the potential for “extinction by hybridization”. Also, we will test the environmental DNA approach to identify fish introductions in Neotropical catchments.

Twitter: @naiarasales_

I love being hands on with nature which gives me the desire to push my academic knowledge and ask novel questions about the natural world to break new ground in this forever fascinating subject (science). My most keen interests are focused on evolutionary biology, behaviour ecology, conservation and the deadly or potentially dangerous -but misunderstood- animals we share our planet with.  I completed my BSc in zoology in the University of Salford in 2017 and am currently identifying signatures of selection in European red foxes using genotype-by-sequencing (GBS) data in my MRes project.

I completed my MSc in biotechnology at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań in Poland, where I was also working on forensic entomology. Then, I moved to the beautiful Białowieża Forest, where I gained a PhD in biology at Warsaw University, studying the phylogeography of the common vole in Europe and genetic structuring in the populations of the common and field vole.  I am interested in analyzing how climate changes influenced the evolutionary history of different species, how it could change species' ranges, and how past climatic conditions and/or humans affected biodiversity, both in the past and present, using contemporary and ancient DNA. I also conduct epidemiological research, analyzing interactions between reservoir host species (rodents) and pathogens that cause serious zoonoses in humans (for instance Lyme disease and hantavirus infections). In my free time, I am continuing my studies on genetic diversity of forensically important beetle species, significant in post-mortem interval estimation.