Lizzy Lowe, University of Auckland and Margaret Stanley, University of Auckland As urban populations around the globe skyrocket and the demand for housing grows, space is increasingly at a premium in cities. Unfortunately, despite some notable efforts to include green space in cities, native wildlife is not often a priority for urban planners, despite research […]
I was invited to Willowbank Primary school in Auckland to talk to the kids about insects and spiders. The classes were really enthusiastic and had some great questions. After my presentation we did a fun activity identifying insects in leaf litter. These are the laminated identification sheets that I gave out to each group, but I […]
This week, many of the members of our lab attended the joint conference between the New Zealand Ecological Society and the Society for Ecological Restoration Australia.I’ve attended many ecological conferences, but I’ve never experienced such a strong theme of community involvement. Importantly, many of the talks I attended expressed the need not just to do […]
After 6 months maternity leave, I’m very excited to be moving (with my new little family!) to New Zealand in October to take up a 6 month Endeavour postdoc fellowship at the University of Auckland. I’ll be working with Ecology Ngatahi Lab who are doing some really fantastic research in urban environments and surrounds in Auckland. I […]
Every year the DAAD (German academic exchange service) have a meeting for their RAMP mentorship program. I have been lucky enough to have been involved for the last three years. The first year as a prospective mentee and the second year giving a presentation about my successful mentor relationship. This year I was given the […]
I’ve finally handed in my PhD (just in time before bub arrives!) and what a wonderful 4 years it’s been. There are so many people I would like to thank, but I’ve posted the acknowledgements from my thesis here in order to give special mention to those who helped me along the way. Thesis Acknowledgements […]
RezBaz or Research Bazar was a 3 day workshop organised by some really wonderful people and held at the University of Melbourne. The aim was to teach ECR’s new technology skills for their research. I love this idea because as a PhD student I’m often overwhelmed by the huge range of software and technology available […]
I’m in the thick of thesis writing at the moment so this blog has been a bit neglected, but it’s the time of year when all my spiders are out in force so I thought I’d write a little (more) about them. Here is a juvenile from outside my building at the University of Sydney […]
I recently competed in the 3 minute thesis (3MT) competition. Sitting down and trying to summarise 3 years of work into 3 mins is a very hard task, especially when trying to make it accessible to a general audience. It really makes you take a step back and remember what’s important about your work. Why […]
It’s been a very busy couple of months, but I’m almost finished classifying all my spiders. With over 5000 individuals it’s been a difficult but exciting process. Here is a sneak preview of some of the amazing diversity I’ve found in Sydney backyards.