Research Interests

My primary interests lie in multiple stressor research and using traditional and molecular techniques to elucidate the non-additive effects (synergisms and antagonisms) of multiple stressors on freshwater ecosystems.

PhD Research

My PhD project aims to address the limited knowledge available about individual and interactive effects of climate change on freshwater ecosystems in a multi-stressor context. My project is funded by the Government of Ireland, Irish Research Council and is primarily supervised by Assoc. Prof. Mary Kelly-Quinn, University College Dublin. It is part of a larger collaborative project with Irish Research Council Laureate Prof. Jeremy Piggott (TCD) and in association with Assoc. Prof. Christoph Matthaei (University of Otago). In this collaboration, myself and two other PhD students (James Orr, Trinity College Dublin and Julia Hunn, University of Otago), will use the ExStream System to investigate the individual and combined effects of climate (elevated temperatures, increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and altered flow regime) and agricultural (deposited fine-sediment) stressors on freshwater ecosystems. Using functional and community composition indicators, and modelling, the effects of these stressors will be disentangled to try better understand the individual and combined impacts of climate change and agricultural stressors on freshwater ecosystems