Current: Senior Lecturer in Zoology, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences (BEES), University College Cork (UCC), Ireland.

Jan 2015 - Aug 2017: College Lecturer in Zoology, School of BEES, UCC.

May 2013 - Dec 2014: Research Fellow (Beaufort Fish Population Genetics Project), School of BEES, UCC. Jan

2011- Apr 2013: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Animal Ecology Department, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Wageningen.

Mar 2008- Dec 2010: Postdoctoral Research Associate, School of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle.

Oct 2007 - Feb 2008: Field assistant Sparrow Weaver Project, Tswalu, South Africa.

Sep 2004 - Sep 2007: PhD student, Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, UK.

Jan 2003 - Jul 2003: Environmental consultant, KOS Consulting Ltd., Galway, Ireland.

Sep 2002 - Dec 2002: Research technician, Central Fisheries Board, Dublin, Ireland.

Sep 1998 - Jun 2002: BSc Environmental Science (Hons), National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland.

I am an evolutionary ecologist interested in how organisms respond, and populations adapt, to environments that are highly variable across space and time, and heavily influenced by humans. My work applies a range of approaches -- field and lab-based experiments, statistical analysis of longitudinal data, quantitative and molecular genetics, simulation modelling -- to understand how ecological and evolutionary processes interactively shape life histories and the dynamics of genes, phenotypes and populations.

I work mainly with fish and birds in Ireland and abroad. Current and recent projects have focussed on the life histories, population ecology and evolutionary dynamics of salmonid fishes, in particular Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and brown trout (Salmo trutta). We use genetic markers to trace individual recaptures, link parents to offspring, and reconstruct sibships, in order to quantify components of individual fitness and link this to phenotypic traits and ecological drivers of selection and population dynamics.  Together with my key collaborator, Prof. Philip McGinnity, genetic and ecological interactions betwen farm salmon and wild salmon has also been a topic of ongoing interest. 

Ecology; Evolutionary Biology; Genetics; Fish biology; Biodiversity; Climate Change; Conservation; Quantitative skills; Practical Field Ecology.