Growing up in the midlands of Ireland I had a passion for angling and a great interest in all things related to freshwater systems and how they work. This led me to do the BSc in Applied Freshwater and Marine Biology in ATU Galway City, completing it in 2017. From this, I learned just how interconnected these ecosystems can be and also how fragile they can be.
In 2018, I worked as a Lab technician with the Marine Institute in Newport Co. Mayo. Here I gained skills in fish husbandry through their salmon hatchery. I got to work with the acoustic tagging project on smolts and with the electrofishing surveys carried out on the Burrishoole catchment.
I moved into Aquaculture working with rainbow trout and became the hatchery manager for IDAS trout for 5 years. Here I worked on logistics of importing eggs, improving health of fish, improving old hatchery systems and increasing the quality of the fish produced.
In April 2023, I became a Research Assistant working within the Freshwater Ecology team in the MFRC at ATU Galway City. I am currently involved in the Nephin Forest Lakes project, and Characterising Oligotrophic Lakes where I am responsible for testing the use of underwater drones for the identification of macrophytes.
