I graduated from University College Cork with a BSc in Zoology in 2011 and from the University of Exeter (UK) with an MSc in Conservation and Biodiversity in 2017. My PhD research at University College Cork (2018-2022) focused on the Irish hare population at Dublin Airport and utilised ecological survey methods to identify periods of increased strike risk (wildlife-aircraft collision) and to inform the implementation of airside management practices.
Currently, I am a postdoc researcher in Allan McDevitt’s lab at Atlantic Technological University (ATU) investigating the use of non-invasive genetic techniques for surveying badger populations in Ireland, to inform ongoing TB vaccination programs with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM). I am particularly interested in the application of ecological approaches in wildlife management and human-wildlife conflict mediation, in addition to the areas of mammalogy and wildlife disease. While my research has predominantly focused on mammals, I have broad research interests having also worked in the areas of marine & terrestrial conservation, parasitology and with bee viruses.
For more detailed information on the research team, see the lab group’s website: https://sites.google.com/view/mcdevittlab/home