We would like to say a big thank you and goodbye to the 2022/2023 editors Aedín McAdams and Luke Quill. Throughout the year they have provided a wide variety of posts including saying goodbye to Prof. Celia Holland and the annual 2023 Botany-Zoology Postgraduate Symposium. They were also responsible for the revival of the annual Photo Competition, which we will continue next year! We want to wish them both the best of luck and hopefully they will keep us updated with their works in future blog posts.
But now it’s time to introduce ourselves to you – hello, it’s Josua and Niamh here – the new editorial team for 2023/2024! We are super excited to be a part of this blog and we are looking forward to bringing you the latest research, ideas, opinions, and advice from Trinity’s EcoEvo contributors and to keep making this blog a centre of science and innovation.
Niamh
Hi there, I’m Niamh Mc Cartan a Dublin native, and a 3rd year PhD student in the Sick Water Flea Lab led by Dr. Pepijn Luijckx. I graduated from Zoology here in Trinity in 2019 (went to Queen’s University Belfast for a 1-year MSc in parasitology and pathogen biology) and then returned to Zoology where I have been studying disease and climate change since 2021. I am particularly interested in looking at how extreme temperature variation (heatwaves and cold snaps) affect disease using the model organism Daphnia magna and its parasite Ordospora colligata. In my free time I love reading and knitting, and the pub with friends!
Josua
Hi everyone, I am Josua (he/him). I started my PhD in the Botany Department, TCD in January 2023. I work with Prof. Silvia Caldararu on modelling carbon dynamics in grasslands within QUINCY, a land surface model. Before coming to Ireland, I did a Master’s at Umeå University, Sweden where I studied Earth Sciences with a focus on biogeochemistry. In my free time I love hiking and camping!
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).
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).
As 2022 rolls around quicker than any of us could have ever imagined, it’s time to say farewell to our current editors – Erika Soldi and Sam Preston – and introduce our new editing trio.
Many thanks to Erika and Sam for their wonderful contribution to the EcoEvo blog, bringing us all some much needed light in a challenging year. Highlights include advice on how to make your lab greener, the connection between nature and wellbeing, and of course your research (Fungi, Birds , Crabs and so much more!). We wish Erika and Sam the very best for their continued research and hopefully this won’t be the last our readers hear from them!
Goodbyes are always hard, but this year’s is even more so in light of the tragic loss of Dr Aoibheann Gaughran. Before introducing ourselves, we would like to take a minute to extend our condolences to Aoibheann’s loved ones and pay tribute to our wonderful friend and colleague. Below is a beautiful photo of a Brown Hawker Dragonfly taken by Aoibheann and submitted for last year’s photo competition. May it remind us of her and her love for nature.
We would now like to introduce you to your new editors… Lucy Harding, Grace McNicholas and Richa Marwaha. Editing is a new venture for each of us, so go easy! Below is a short intro about us and our research. If you have any questions about our work please feel free to get in touch. We look forward to bringing you new content in 2022 and learning from our fantastic contributors.
Lucy Harding
Hi everyone, my name is Lucy and my pronouns are she/her. I am a 3rd year PhD student in the Dept. of Zoology. My background is in environmental science and marine conservation. Before my PhD, I was working in the Philippines and Fiji teaching children and international volunteers the importance of protecting our oceans. But my heart was always in my hometown, so I swapped tropical life for rainy ol’ Dublin and I now study the thermal physiology and ecology of marine fish, with a focus on warm blooded sharks, under the supervision of Nicholas Payne.
I am a novice when it comes to blogs so I’m very excited to learn a lot over the next year and to hear all of your exciting stories!
Grace McNicholas
Hi all, I’m Grace (she/her), nice to meet you! I recently moved to the Emerald Isle from the UK to start my PhD in the Payne Lab. If you get to know me you’ll soon realise I have a tendency to complicate things for myself, so of course my PhD is no exception and I am actually based in Westport, Mayo not Dublin. The reason being, I work closely with the Marine Institute in their nearby facility, researching the Ecology of Irish Tuna, including their space use and post-release behaviour. Probably a good thing though, as I’m not much of a city girl and since graduating from my MSc I’ve spent most of my adult life running away to remote places – be it the Australian outback or a tiny Bahamian Island!
As with Lucy, blog editing is completely alien to me but I’m looking forward to giving it a go and learning something new!
Richa Marwaha
Hi all, I am Richa working as a post-doc researcher under the supervision of Dr Matthew Saunders in the Botany Department. My project is to investigate the C/GHG dynamics of peatlands using Earth Observation techniques.
My background is in remote sensing and GIS. I moved from India to Ireland for PhD 5 years ago. I recently finished my PhD from Teagasc, Ashtown and UCC. My research was focused on grass growth rate estimation using machine learning and remote sensing.
Outside of work, I enjoy painting, baking and travelling. I am a part of this blog to improve my writing skills and venture into the world of science communication. Looking forward to this new experience and your ideas and research!
Updates:
The annual EcoEvo photo competition is back! For those of you who have been around for a while hopefully you are familiar with the competition, but if not, it’s a chance for our lovely readers to submit and vote on our updated EcoEvo blog photo banner. Keep an eye out for more details in our January post, and in the meantime don’t forget to get out and about in nature this festive season to capture some wintery shots!
We’d also like to take a moment to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and we hope you get to spend time with your loved ones after a challenging few years. Christmas can also be a difficult time for lots of us, so please reach out and ask for support if you feel alone.
Nollaig Shona – and we look forward to 2022 and sharing plenty of new blogs with you!
