After graduating with a BSc in Zoology from Swansea University, and a MSc in Ecological Sustainable Development at Utrecht University, I worked for a few years on a EU-funded project at the University of Leeds centring around ecosystem services on EU agricultural land. In 2023, I began a NERC-funded PhD at the University of Sheffield, with Professor David Edwards from the University of Cambridge as my second supervisor. My PhD focuses on the impacts of restoration initiatives on the biodiversity of the selectively logged tropical rainforests of Borneo. Active restoration typically comes in the form of enrichment planting (i.e. planting Dipterocarp species) or climber removal (i.e. cutting back disturbance-tolerant rattans, lianas, and bamboo). To examine faunal diversity, I will be analysing the effect of a variety of forest types, including restored land, on soundscapes. I will also be exploring floral dynamics in response to restoration by analysing the effect of removing rapidly growing lianas on tree performance. I also plan on developing this latter study further by incorporating species-specific functional traits of trees into the statistical methods.
