A PhD student at the MFRC, Atlantic Technological University Galway funded by the Breeding Waders EIP. I received an MRes from University College Dublin researching SARS-CoV-2 and Toxoplasma gondii in wild fallow deer. This work gave me a great baseline of in the field, dissection labs, molecular labs, and data analysis. After finishing my MRes, I went traveling around New Zealand for a year. Now that I am back in Ireland my project is focused on looking at wading bird conservation using a molecular toolbox to achieve a wide variety of aims. I am using DNA metabarcoding to examine the diets of both the wading birds and the predators that are culled to protect them. I am also carrying out analysis on the population health of Dunlin with samples collected during a head-starting programme. Finally I’ll be looking at the population dynamics of the culled predators to examine the effectiveness of culling operations at the population level.
Bluesky: @andrew-ryan.bsky.soci
