Email:           llp20tks@bangor.ac.uk

Location:      Molecular Ecology Group,

3rd Floor,

Environment Center Wales,

School of Natural Sciences,

Bangor University,

Bangor,

Gwynedd,

Wales

LL57 2UW

I am a postgraduate student studying a MScRes Biological Sciences here at Bangor University. My research is currently focused on the genetic mechanisms underlying colouration in Dendrobates tinctorius, a species of poison dart frog, however I have a wide range of academic interests.

I recently graduated from Bangor with a first class degree in Zoology with Herpetology, which included a dissertation in which I started the research which I am now building upon, alongside my supervisor Aaron Comeault. I also studied a broad variety of modules covering topics from wetland ecosystems to animal behaviour.

Outside of my academic studies, I am active within Undeb Bangor, the Students' Union here at Bangor, serving as chair of Bangor University LGBTQ+ Society, a Course Representative, and a Peer Guide. Previously, I was a committee member for various societies and sports clubs, and sat on the now disbanded Student Council.

My current research focuses on Dendrobates tinctorius, a species of poison dart frog native to the Guiana Shield, in particular relating to the role of differential gene expression in the evolution of intraspecific colour polymorphisms. I first began this research as part of my undergraduate dissertation, and am now continuing it as my MScRes research project, as I feel that I only scratched the surface through my dissertation.

Alongside evolution and colouration, I have many other research interests, including conservation and animal behaviour, and was lucky enough to study a wide variety of modules during my undergraduate degree which sparked an interest in a broad diversity of research areas.