Todays PhDetails is with Sarah Ryan who is carrying out her PhD at University College Cork. Sarah is originally from Co. Limerick but moved to Cork to study. She started with a BSc in Zoology and MSc in Marine Biology at University College Cork. Sarah continues to be affiliated with this University College Cork, but is based at the Marine Institute research station in Co. Mayo and also carries out periodic lab work at Queen's University Belfast. Her research uses genetic, physiological and behavioural tools to aid in the understanding of farm escape impacts on wild Atlantic salmon populations, in an ecological and evolutionary context. You can also follow Sarah on Twitter @Sarah_Ryan_AJ. Enjoy!
What is your favourite band/musical artist pre 1980?
I have many, I really love Creedence Clearwater Revival. Also Bob Dylan, John Denver, Elvis Presley, Joan Baez, Janis Joplin, Leonard Cohen and Simon and Garfunkel (I do quite enjoy the pre 1980s era of music).
Favourite band/musical artist post 1980?
Bruce Springsteen, Lana del Rey and Glen Hansard.
Favourite movie?
Good Will Hunting. I have also been known to shamefully binge on Adam Sandler flicks but as a redeeming behaviour I like to chill to any type of nature, travel or political documentary.
Where do you study and who is/are your supervisors?
I am based at the Marine Institute field station in Co. Mayo, in the west of Ireland but myself and the research team (FishEyE team, @FishEcoEvo) I am part of are affiliated with University College Cork (UCC). My main supervisor is Dr Phil McGinnity but I have other supervisors/advisors that are based here in Mayo (Dr Karl Phillips), in UCC (Dr Tom Reed) and in Queens University Belfast (Prof. Paulo Prodöhl).
What year of your PhD are you in?
I just started my second year
Who’s giving you the money – and for how long?
I am funded through Science Foundation Ireland and the Department of Education and Learning as part of a cross–border collaboration. Luckily, I have four years of funding.
Do you have any publications?
No, not yet.
Did you do a masters – where was it and was it about?
I did a Marine Biology masters in University College Cork. The taught aspect covered everything from basic R skills and mapping to oceanography and field biology. The research aspect is what really took my fancy, however, as my thesis exposed me to the world of evolution and fishery science and it is essentially what helped carve the path to get to where I am now.
Do you do fieldwork? What is the best fieldwork you have ever done and what made it great?
Because I work at a field station that deals with migratory anadromous fish and moderate to extreme flooding events on a weekly to bi-monthly basis, there will often be weeks where I am in the field almost every day. The best field experience I’ve had however, was on a recent trip to Donegal in Ireland. I work on a river there, building on research my supervisor previously published. As part of my PhD, we usually catch juvenile salmon and take fin clips to integrate their genetic profiles into a long-term data set. On this particular trip, we were catching adult Atlantic salmon, tagging them with radio-tags and tracking their spawning behaviour post-release. It’s an ongoing study so the novelty of it hasn’t worn off yet and I never get sick of seeing adult salmon and clocking their scars and marks after their journey at sea. So I’m currently feeling quite fortunate to be working on this study.
What about labwork?
In general, I really enjoy lab work. It’s a great way to blast some of your favourite music or catch up on podcasts.
How many PhDs did you apply for – what were you looking for?
I applied for two. I was glad to have been rejected from the first one. It was on a subject that I was interested in but I just wouldn’t have been the best fit for the programme and they obviously knew that. I knew that I wanted to continue with research, but I wasn’t sure what topic to go with exactly. I wanted something that would provide me with transferable skills for going into industry if it came to it, but also wanted to stick with something I truly enjoyed. I have always been attracted to areas of research outside my immediate expertise so after working on population genetics for my masters thesis, I applied for a quantitative genetics PhD. Turns out, I didn’t actually get that PhD either, but was offered an alternative one from the same supervisor on a subject that was very related to my master thesis but with a quantitative element. So I went through a pleasant and organic progression from masters to PhD level, albeit still feeling the inevitably steep learning curve.
What is the most bodged piece of equipment you have had to use during field/labwork – did it work?
Luckily enough I haven’t had to come up with any wacky equipment alternatives! Although, I have used a food blender to blend fish for energy storage analysis – not the most pleasant but it worked!
What one piece of advice would you give to a masters student applying to PhDs now?
I would say to definitely do your research on the University/Institute that you plan to attend and to check whether activities in the surrounding area suit your interests. If it’s in the countryside, make sure you have a car. I made this mistake and am now on a very slow process to getting on the road. If you could see yourself living there, that’s amazing! But really assess how much you would enjoy the actual research, because at the end of the day your passion for your topic is what will pull you through those Thursday evenings in the cold lab when everyone else has gone home to their families and you’re still filling tubes. As you may hear, a PhD is a roller-coaster experience, so be prepared to show resilience and enthusiasm as best and as much as you can!
How often do you meet with your supervisor(s)?
It’s variable, I may see my main supervisor everyday some weeks, to not at all for five weeks (I travel and he travels). Others I could see every day. But each of them are always available by email.
What supervisor traits are important to you?
Approachable, honest, optimistic and professional
What do you think are the worst supervisor traits?
Overly-critical, controlling and pessimistic
In one sentence what is your PhD about?
Understanding the ecological mechanisms of farmed fish performance in the wild.
What has been your academic highlight of the last year?
Completing field work for my first chapter and beginning associated genetic work. Baby steps!
Have you had an academic lowpoint of the last year – if so what happened?
Not really a low point but more of a minor hiccup in my expectations. I had trouble finding a method to extract blood from juvenile salmon. Initially thinking it would be straight forward, the small-bodied salmon didn’t feel like complying. Whatever I did, it just wouldn’t work and the centrifuge I used just didn’t cut the mustard. In the end, I searched the literature for an alternative solution and decided to go with that instead. It’s all part of the PhD process – adaptability is key to overcoming these moments.
Which academic idol/scientist have you met?
I don’t think I have an academic idol per se, but I do enjoy hearing seminars from famous researchers in my field. Fred Allendorf once visited our field station to give a seminar when I first began my PhD, so that was a pretty stellar afternoon.
Which academic idol/scientist would you most like to meet?
I feel like I shouldn’t say David Attenborough here, but he is a science communication guru and I think we should all aspire to inspire like he has for many generations. It would be a privilege to hear him speak in person.
Do you have a favourite paper?
Yes I do, Glover et al., 2017. It’s pretty much the farm-wild interaction bible for my thesis.
What has been your favourite conference so far – why?
I attended a salmonid workshop (NoWPaS) held in March 2018 in Finland right up by the Arctic circle. It was an amazing way to kick start my workshop/conference experience and immerse myself in the nitty gritty science of it all, leading to many friendships, intense discussions and new ideas. The chance to go cross-country skiing in the evening and Northern light hunting once the sun went down made it an unforgettable few days.
What hours do you typically work?
I try to keep to a 9 to 5/6/7/8 schedule. Depending on upcoming field work or outstanding analyses, the days can run on but I usually take weekends off from the office.
How do you avoid procrastinating?
Once I get into the office in the morning, I fill a large cup of coffee, open my diary and write my plan for the day. Any time I feel myself slipping into the procrastination vortex, I check my daily goals. Listening to a good playlist while working also helps to keep the creative juices flowing.
What motivates you in your day to day PhD life?
Curiosity
What do you do when you’re not working – how do you balance it with your PhD?
I travel, visit family and friends, read, cycle, run, occasionally hike, sail, surf and do yoga. I’m always pretty busy but I believe in the concept of taking weekends off from the office so that I can maximise productivity the following week. It works for me at the moment but I may need to re-evaluate once I get to the stage of writing papers. That being said, I find that working in a coffee shop helps to alleviate the feeling of actually being “at work” and so a Saturday afternoon spent with steaming coffee and devising an R script isn’t all that bad, if not enjoyable.
If a genie could grant you one wish to help with your PhD what would you wish for?
More time in the day and less flood events. I’m sure he/she can stretch to two.
What would be your dream job?
A year ago I would have said a lecturer. Today I’m not so sure, but I would like to stay in research if the opportunity presents itself.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Happy, researching a topic that I’m passionate about and fostering motivation in younger researchers or students.
One word to sum up your future in academia:
Hopeful
What do you want to achieve outside of academia in the coming year?
Purchase a car and a surfboard.
What essential tool hardware/software could you not do your PhD without?
Toolbox for fieldwork and R
Who has been your academic role model/inspiration and why?
I think each of my former lecturers (both undergraduate and masters) have been inspiring in individual ways, all of them fostering an aspect of my passion for science. My main supervisor is a pretty good role model as well. He has an unlimited energy supply enabling him to run several large collaborative projects and has a real go-get it type of approach to science. I would hope to channel that with my own work and future career.
Where is somewhere you would like to work in the future?
I’d be hope to settle in Ireland in the future, but I am open to exploring the idea of working in Scotland, Australia or Canada at some stage.
Do you have a favourite organism – what is it and why – is it different from your study organisms?
It’s difficult to choose a favourite organism because I suffer from the “interested in everything” complex. But at a push, dogs are definitely my favourite. Obviously I love salmon too but comparably so, dogs win. After dogs and salmon, I enjoy the odd bout of birdwatching. I’ve had some pretty amazing encounters with Manx shearwaters when camping on an island off the coast of Kerry.
Are there any social interactions/meetings which have enhanced your PhD experience e.g. social seminars/group meetings?
Because I’m based at a field station, emphasis on academic seminars can sometimes slip by the wayside when essential field/lab work takes precedence e.g. flooding, fishing, tagging, dissecting or tracking. To accommodate for this, I try to attend as many workshops as possible. After I attended the amazing NoWPaS salmonid workshop in Finland, I flew to Sicily for a stable isotope ecology course. These trips really offer us early career researchers a chance to make new connections with people from all types of scientific backgrounds around the globe and the often fantastic location is an added bonus!
If you could change one thing about your group/department structure what would it be?
I think we need more PhD students based at our facility. We only have five permanently based PhDs at the Institute, so I think more onsite representation would be the best way forward! The facility is a long-term environmental research station, they have been collecting both environmental and biological data since the 60s. So plenty of opportunity for many more PhD students or future post-docs.
What major question in your subject area is yet to be addressed – why is it important and why isn’t anyone addressing it?
With regards to my specific field, we know from past literature that farmed salmon and farmed-wild hybrids display reduced fitness in the wild. But it is the mechanisms of this fitness that needs to be addressed and the linkage of these ecological phenotypes to genotypes to understand the full scale evolutionary impact of farm escapes. Luckily, this is one of the questions that we are trying to address at our facility. Marine mortality of adult salmon is another pressing issue. Over the past few decades, mortality of salmon at sea has been increasing, with little knowledge to the exact mechanism or reasons for its demise. Although I know of many research groups that have attempted and are succeeding in unlocking this black box a fraction, it seems that much of the emphasis on my level of the academic ladder is focused on mortality and life history strategies at the freshwater stage or smolt stage and understandably so, considering the large proportion of human-induced juvenile mortality inflicted during this period. But at a time when the climate change dagger looms and the return rate of mature salmon is decreasing on an annual basis, global emphasis and further funding opportunities in this area are required to create a balanced understanding of the selective pressures imposed on both freshwater and marine phases of the salmonid lifecycle. Otherwise, we risk reaching the point of no recovery for these socio-economically valued species.
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