Currently I am a PhD student working on the StockDNA project at the Mariani lab at LJMU. Supervised by Professor Stefano Mariani and in collaboration with the Centre of Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS), I will be using environmental DNA to assess pelagic fish stocks in combination with acoustic trawl data in ICES divisions VIIe and VIId.

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I have a Masters of Marine Zoology (Mzol) from Bangor University. In the final years I spent at Bangor I primarily worked with the Molecular Ecology and Fisheries Genetics Laboratory (MEFGL)  (mefgl.bangor.ac.uk) with Professor Gary Carvalho. Where I was involved with the Atlantic salmon project and gained valuable experience working with the Institute of Marine Research (IMR) Norway as well as becoming a keen bioinformatician.

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My academic goal is to become a leading fisheries researcher; a goal fuelled by wanting to discover the complex and unknown processes and structures of fish communities. To be able to use environmental DNA to give a better insight into these fish communities and possible routes to advance human knowledge and improve fishing policy is an exciting prospect. The StockDNA project at LJMU university has given me the tools to unlock the secrets that lie beneath the surface.