City Clocks Group

WORKING ENVIRONMENT 

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I strongly believe in building a positive research culture within my group. We work as a team, learn from and helping heach other. We are hear to produce the best science, with the ultimate goal to understand how the natural world works and to offer our contribution to improve it. But we do this trying to have fun, and in a relaxed way. I am well aware of the pressures that the academic system imposes on us, and students and early career researchers are the most vulnerable in this sense. I am here to support my group and create a stimulant, creative, passionate, inclusive, interdisciplinary and sparkling working atmosphere. I am looking for people who share this same attitude, who understand that by working together we can achieve much more that by working alone.

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Our very own Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine is an amazing and vibrant place to conduct research. We are an highly interdisciplinary group of scientists who love to collaborate, participate, have fun. We have particular strenghts in the areas of disease ecology, vector biology, spatial ecology, ecological modelling, evolutionary and biodiversity analysis. We have special interest groups around these thems which organise regular meetings and are willing to help with any relevant issue. We have regular pub nights every Friday, and we tend to go to the pub with any excuse, for instance when a seminar speaker is visiting us. We also organise weekly coffee in the museums events, and every xmas we have an amazing party with a lecture from an eminent ornithologist, food, and a traditional ceilidh band. We also have our own rock band which is always open to new talents!

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What type of supervisor I am?

 

I think I am quite a hands-on person, I like to know what's going in my group, how people feels, whether a certain project is proceeding as it is supposed to, and where my opinion can be helpful. I like to have regular meetings with my students, and you won't ever feel left alone or behind while working in my group. However, I also expect a certain degree of indepencency and problem-solving skills, especially from PhD students, and even more from postdocs. From the latter I also expect that they should be able to come up with novel ideas, as well as to do some project and student supervision. Your success is my success and I will do everything I can to make sure you will leave my group in an oustanding position to apply for a new job. But ultimately is your own passion, motivation, flexibility and positive attitude which I believe will count more. Academia is competitive and without these abilities it will be hard to obtain a permanent position. However, I also stress that leaving academia is not a loss: a Master, Phd or many years of postdoc experience will also provide you with a great set of transferable skills that any employer will seek for. 

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Skills to be acquired here

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We work both in the field and in the lab. Job positions are often interdisciplinary and thus good opportunities to develop a broad set of skills, including:

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1) All standard field work methods applied to birds, including trapping, blood sampling, feather sampling, ringing, radio and GPS tagging, behavioural observation (including remote tools such as video-recording, acoustic monitoring etc).

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2) Many standard molecular biology methods, including DNA and RNA extraction, primer design, PCR, RT-qPCR, some hormone assays (CORT and melatonin).

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3) Experimental design: from formulating to testing research hypotheses.

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4) Statistical analyses: we mostly used linear and generalised linear mixed modelling approaches. Other analyses you might be able to learn are survival and time-series models, analysis of behavioural rhythms, GIS and spatial statistics. Moreover, our institute has a great expertise in population genetic and spatial analysis, and in general on quantitative methods in ecology, evolution and epidemiology. 

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5) Scientific writing: I have run scientific writing courses in the past and take this the whole issue of writing scientific articles, theses and reports very seriously. I have materials to help you nailing down your writing style and approach, and will ensure that you will be able to write scientifically by the end of your time here.

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PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS AND POSTDOCS

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PHDs - I occasionally will have PhD positions available which I will advertise here. Most likely, these will come through UK Doctoral Training Programs (DTPs), for instance the IAPETUS2 program. DTP-funded positions are usually for UK citizens only, or for EU citizens who have spent at least their last three years in the UK. 

If you think you are eligible to apply to any of these positions, or if you can apply to a PhD scholarship via different routes (for instance, your own country might have specific funding routes to send students abroad),  I encourage you to contact me to discuss potential project ideas.

 

Postdocs - Similarly, postdoc positions will be usually advertise here. If you want to apply to a fellowship to come work with me, I am happy to discuss potential ideas and to support you in the process of grant writing. To come to the UK the most viable (slightly less competitive) routes are the Marie Curie fellowships and the Human Frontiers fellowships. Other opportunites are through the fellowship schemes of the Royal Society (Newton International Fellowships), Leverhulme, NERC and BBSRC. However, all these latter routes are much more competitive, and you will need to demonstrate a clear path towards research independence (a unique research line, several first author papers, invitation to conferences, etc).

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Masters projects - If you are already a student enrolled in Glasgow are interested in doing your project with me please contact me directly. If you are thinking of joining one of  in the future, remember that in Glasgow we have two Masters courses (both one year long). The first is a MSc called "Quantitatitive methods in biodiversity, conservation and epidemiology". Is a taught course, with the first 6 months made of an intense programme of lectures and assignments, and the last 4-5 months of research work. It's a challenging programme, but you will aquire amazing quantitative skills tht your future employer will definitely seek in you. The second option is the MRes in Ecology and Environmental Biology (Master by research), where a limited number of taught classes is offered and most of the year is spent doing research. 

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