Oct 2017 - Jan 2022
Lund University
Doctor of Philosophy
Thesis: Phenotypic response of zooplankton to variable conditions
What strategies allow freshwater zooplankton to cope with multiple and variable stressors? My doctoral research asked how behavioural, morphological, and life-history plasticity mediate responses to threats such as predation, ultraviolet radiation (UVR), and resource fluctuations. Using Daphnia magna, I investigated whether behavioural avoidance is context-dependent—finding that females evade males in ways resembling predator responses, and that foraging opportunities can override UVR avoidance. I also asked whether the temporal variability of UVR matters for fitness, showing that fluctuating exposure carries greater costs than constant stress. Finally, I examined copepods across predation regimes to test whether pigmentation plasticity is general or threat-specific, finding constitutive pigmentation in fishless environments and idiosyncratic predator responses. Together, this work addressed the broader question of how organisms balance ecological trade-offs under environmental uncertainty.
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Sep 2011 - May 2015
The University of Sheffield
Master's of Biological Science (Zoology)
What role do key innovations and human-driven stressors play in shaping adaptation? For my Master’s thesis, I explored venom as a key evolutionary innovation, asking how it contributes to diversification and ecological success across taxa. In a separate research project, I investigated the impacts of anthropogenic pollution on Mytilus mussels, linking environmental stress to phenotypic divergence. This training provided broad grounding in evolutionary biology, ecology, and experimental design, and formed the foundation for my doctoral research on plasticity and adaptation.
2023 - present
VR International Postdoctoral Research Fellow
The University of Texas at Arlington (Host) & Lund University (Home)
Walsh Lab
How do maternal effects shape offspring responses in variable environments? Can transgenerational plasticity influence adaptation in both Daphnia and Trinidadian killifish? I am also asking whether the evolution of colour plasticity and background matching can be explained by ecological gradients such as predation and habitat light environment.
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2022 - 2023
Lund University
Guest Researcher
Hansson Lab
How do prey tailor their responses to different modes of predation? Using Daphnia and damselfly nymphs, I explored whether behavioural and morphological defences are generalised or predator-specific, and what this means for survival under complex predator regimes.
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2022 - 2023
Lund University
Postdoctoral Research Assistant
Hegemann Lab
What ecological and life-history factors influence survival in free-living blackbirds (Turdus merula)? I worked on linking survival analyses to movement and environmental data, asking how large-scale telemetry (MOTUS) can reveal patterns in population demography..
2024
25,000 SEK (approx. $2,600 USD)
Royal Physiographic Society of Lund – ‘Young Researchers – Postdoctoral Fellows’
2023
3.45M SEK (approx. $358,000 USD)
Vetenskapsrådet (Swedish Research Council) – ‘International Postdoc Grant, Natural & Engineering Sciences’
2021
120,000 SEK (approx. $12,500 USD)
Royal Physiographic Society of Lund – ‘Endowments for the Natural Sciences, Medicine and Technology – Biology’
2017
140,000 SEK (approx. $14,500 USD)
Royal Physiographic Society of Lund – ‘Endowments for the Natural Sciences, Medicine and Technology – Biology’