I am a Post-Doctoral Research Associate based in the Community Ecology group at Bristol, with Professor Jane Memmott. We are currently working on a transdisciplinary Belmont-funded project in rural Nepal, investigating the relationship between pollinators, human health and climate change in high-altitude susbsitence farming regions, with collaborators from the University of Harvard, University of Helsinki, University College London and HERD International in Nepal. 

This follows on from a NERC-funded PhD studying the importance of flowering phenology in the restoration of pollinator services across agricultural landscapes.

My research uses a combination of traditional fieldwork methods, spatial analyses and molecular techniques, including pollen metabarcoding and microsatellite analysis, to investigate factors limiting pollinator populations on farmland. I am particularly interested in the role that phenology plays in structuring pollinator populations and believe that an improved understanding of plant and pollinator phenology can allow us to design more effective conservation schemes.  

As an example, my work in the Journal of Applied Ecology has shown that seasonal gaps in the supply of nectar resources on farmland are leaving pollinators hungry at times when food is needed most. Identifying these gaps allows us to design conservation schemes which fill these gaps and support pollinators for the entire duration of their flight season.  

I also have a strong interest in promoting ecological research in the developing world and have written about this topic in my report for the UK Collaborative on Development Research entitled ‘Pollination and International Development’.

My work, though rooted in ecological theory, retains a strongly applied focus, with a particular emphasis on pollinator conservation, ecological restoration and sustainable development.