A bid farewell

We can’t thank our editors from the 2021/2022 year enough for their fantastic contribution to the EcoEvo Blog – Lucy Harding, Grace McNicholas and Richa Marwaha. We wish them all the best of luck in their research and hope to hear from them again soon!

The team produced a series of excellent blog posts, including an insight into the evolutionary divergence of Wallacea’s monarch flycatchers, restoration of biodiversity in Irish farmlands and a plethora of scientific podcasts that can be enjoyed by all. While we say goodbye to these three fabulous editors, we would also like to take the time to bid farewell to Prof. Celia Holland who retired this year from the Zoology Department. I believe I speak for everyone in Zoology and Trinity who’ve had the great pleasure of meeting Celia, that she will be a huge loss to the department. She has acted as Head of School, Head of Discipline, Director of Research, Chair of the School of Natural Sciences Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team and received the Provost’s Teaching Award for LIfetime Achievement in 2019. Celia has not only had a huge impact on the college community and the people she met, but has also significantly impacted the global community with her research on the parasitic worm ascaris – one of the major Neglected Tropical Diseases – which infects over a million people world-wide. Her dedication to understanding and investigating this disease has led to her being  elected to Membership of the Royal Irish Academy and Fellowship of Trinity, an Invited Expert on the WHO Advisory Panel on Parasitic Diseases and a member of the WHO Guideline Development Group. We would like to wish Celia all the very best in her retirement as she travels the world, sharing her light to everyone fortunate enough to meet her. 

We once again give Lucy, Grace and Richa our best and without further ado, let us introduce ourselves as the editorial team for the 2022/2023 year – Luke Quill and Aedín Mc Adams. We’re both thrilled to be a part of this project and are looking forward to bringing you new and exciting content each month from students and researchers alike. So, let’s get started on the introductions!

Luke

Hi everyone, my name is Luke (he/him). I recently started a PhD here in the Botany Department in TCD. A few of you may recognise me as I haven’t ventured too far from this place, having completed my undergrad in Botany last year! My main research interests are fungi and sustainable agriculture. I’m currently working with Professor Carla Harper on the use of mycorrhizal fungi and their associated plants to recover and recycle nutrient runoff from farms. This project is part of the NuReCycle Program which aims to protect the water quality of our vulnerable waterways here in Ireland.

As you might guess, I love hiking and foraging for all kinds of mushrooms so if you’re ever thinking of going for a stroll in the Dublin or Wicklow mountains give me a shout!

Aedín 

Hello everyone, my name is Aedín (she/her). I am a first year research masters student in the Buckley Lab. I am currently investigating the efficacy of irrigation on the restoration of fen habitats for the reintroduction of the rare Geyer’s whorl snail Vertigo geyeri. This project is the first IROPI (Imperative Reasons of Overriding Public Interest) project approved in Ireland granted under the Habitats Directive. I completed my undergraduate here in the Zoology Department after first completing a year on the Trinity Access Foundation Course. My passions, which not only lie in conservation and nature, but also in access to education, lead me to volunteering in the mountains of Mexico for 3 months on an ethnobiological farm, rehabilitating the land, an opossum and building upon relationships with the community. I love to experience and learn new things, so I’m very excited to develop my blogging skills and learning about your ideas and research further! 

Updates: 

Along with the new editors, the EcoEvo blog is in need of a fresh makeover. Do you know what this means?…. 

The annual EcoEvo photo competition is back!! Some of you may know what this entails, but to our new readers, this is a time for you to show off your photography skills. The photo competition is where you can submit a photo you’ve taken, which will then be voted upon by our readers and will replace the current image on our banner and social media. More information and details will be in our November post, so keep your eyes peeled. 

Until then, keep your cameras at the ready, and as always, keep an eye out for each other. With the days getting shorter and darker, we need to remind ourselves to be kind to ourselves and to reach out for support should we need it. 

If you have any questions or ideas about a blog, please feel free to get onto us via Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or email (ecoevoblog@gmail.com).