#8 Joel Brown

I met Joel during our masters at Silwood park and he is one of the most enthusiastic biologists I have ever met! After seeing (and being very jealous) of the many photos from his fieldwork and his passion of herpetology I thought I had to get an interview with him for PhDetails and luckily he was up for it. As another Brit who studies for his PhD abroad I think we have plenty in common including the timeframe of our PhDs and yet our projects are very different. This is one for all the reptile and amphibian lovers and anyone who also loves Aus! Here it is...

 Let’s start off talking about completely unscientific stuff what’s your favourite band/musical artist pre 1980?

Probably Dave Brubeck

Favourite band/musical artist post 1980?

The Weeknd. Judge me.  

Favourite movie?

So difficult to peg one, but Interstellar is the likely answer. Closely followed by Avatar. 

Where do you study and who is/are your supervisor(s)?

I study in Ceske Budejovice (Budweis) in Czech Republic, supervised by Dr Jan Hrcek. 

What year of your PhD are you in?

Second

Who’s giving you the money – and for how long?

A combo of the Czech government and NERC, for 4 years total. 

Do you have any publications – if so where?

Currently bagel!

Did you do a masters - was it about?

I studied Ecology, Evolution and Conservation at Imperial College London. 

How many PhDs did you apply for – what were you looking for?

Just this one! I was looking for something that had tropical field work, as well as the opportunity to develop a lot of lab techniques. The moment I saw it advertised I was all over it. 

What is the best fieldwork you have ever done and what made it great?

Australia 2017. I got to work in beautiful rainforest in North Queensland and see an incredible amount of insane wildlife. It was heavenly. 

What is the most bodged piece of equipment you have had to use during fieldwork – did it work?

Never really had to bodge anything per se, but we had to improvise rainshields for our experimental buckets – so we used disposable foil BBQ trays as hats. 

What one piece of advice would you give to a masters student applying to PhDs now?

Really make sure you will get on with your supervisor. It sounds painfully cliche, but I’d argue that your supervisor is the most important part of your PhD. If you have a bad supervisor, your PhD will be infinitely more frustrating and difficult. 

What supervisor traits are important to you?

For me personally, it’s nice to have a supervisor who is positive and calm in any situation. If you think of your supervisor as the captain of a ship, you don’t want that person freaking out at anything. 

What do you think are the worst supervisor traits?

Being unavailable. Without a doubt, I’d rather have a bad supervisor who was available a lot than one who was just never really around or giving you time. I feel it would be hard to develop as a PhD student in that scenario. 

In one sentence what is your PhD about?

The biotic and abiotic factors that are mediating the interactions between fruit flies and parasitoid wasps from Australian tropical rainforest. 

What has been your academic highlight of the last year?

Getting to really sink my teeth into the literature when writing my review and encountering mind blowing ideas that send my brain fizzing. 

Which academic idol/scientist have you met?

The closest I can say so far is Vojta Novotny or Roger Kitching – both huge names in tropical ecology and food-web work.

Which academic idol/scientist would you most like to meet?

Rick Shine, I reckon. Huge name in Aussie herpetology. Or am I allowed to say Attenborough here?

Do you have a favourite paper?

Probably Lefevre et al. 2009 TREE. Nothing has blown my mind in science like the behavioural manipulations that parasites can induce in their hosts. This paper summarises a whole heap of them. 

What has been your favourite conference so far – why?

Haven’t been to one yet, but I am going to Evolution in August this year so I guess it is that one by default!

What hours do you typically work?

I try and work 8-9 hours a day. Fieldwork drags that up, but I am a strong believer in work life balance. So I make sure to go to the gym before I go to work, and when I get home in the evening I am DONE. That’s my me time and time to switch off. 

What do you do when you’re not working – how do you balance it with your phd?
Following on from what I just said, most of my downtime is occupied with exercise, or watching sport, reading and in the right place and time, herpetology! I am a very keen herpetologist so right now while the reptiles are going nuts I’m determined to find and photograph them. Lately I’ve also gotten into climbing too, which has been great fun. 

If a genie could grant you one wish to help with your phd what would you wish for?

A photographic memory. How much time would it save to look at something once and learn it instantly?

What would be your dream job?

One that comes with a giant heap of funding and stability, maybe? I don’t actually know, maybe I don’t have a particular ideal, just as long as I can enjoy myself. There’s not one particular area of ecology or evolution that I am fixated on, I enjoy being a bit of a generalist there. 

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Hopefully doing a postdoc or CSIRO job Down Under, since I have a total love affair with Australia. 

One word to sum up your future in academia:

Fun

What do you want to achieve outside of academia in the coming year?
See as many reptiles/amphibs as possible! And visit some new countries. Now that I live in Central Europe, I am absolutely out of excuses to see some new places, and getting better at climbing.