This week’s PhDetails is with Amy Sweeny who is originally from the USA! Amy completed her undergraduate degree at Princeton University in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology with a certificate in Global Health and Health Policy. She then went on to two fellowships in the DC area—one in the field of Global Health at Aeras, a tuberculosis vaccine organisation, and one at the National Institutes of Health working on molecular disease ecology of protozoan parasites in marine mammals. Amy then moved to UK to continue to study disease ecology in wildlife populations for her PhD, and is now finishing her degree at the University of Edinburgh. In September she will be starting a post-doc working on the determinants and fitness consequences of gut community dynamics in the Soay Sheep of St. Kilda. Find her on twitter at @arsweeny!
What is your favourite band/musical artist pre 1980?
Probably the Beatles, or ABBA if I’m feeling like a boogie
Favourite band/musical artist post 1980?
I cycle through phases of listening to one thing or another for intense short periods of time. Currently very into Betty Who.
Favourite movie?
Hearts Beat Loud is my favourite movie that I’ve seen recently. An unexpectedly sweet gem on a long flight.
Where do you study and who is your supervisor?
I work with Professor Amy Pedersen at the University of Edinburgh.
What year of your PhD are you in?
My fourth and final!
Who’s giving you the money – and for how long?
The Darwin Trust of Edinburgh is providing my funding, and I am fortunate that it covers all four years of my PhD.
Do you have any publications – if so where?
I have several that are in preparation for submission that I am really excited about from my PhD, investigating effects of experimental nutrition supplementation on helminth immunity and parasite communities in wild wood mice. Previous work from my time at NIH that I have co-authored can be found on my google scholar page. https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=6rq2aqgAAAAJ&hl=en
Did you do a masters – where was it and was it about?
I did not do a masters, instead I spent the time between my undergraduate degree and starting my PhD completing two fellowships—one focusing on project management and scientific affairs at Aeras, a tuberculosis vaccine organisation in the DC area, and one at the National Institutes of Health, investigating protozoan transmission dynamics in marine mammals under changing climate conditions with Dr. Michael Grigg’s group.
Do you do fieldwork? What is the best fieldwork you have ever done and what made it great?
I do! Much of my PhD is based on fieldwork—small mammal trapping in natural woodlands. ‘Best’ is a hard one. The fieldwork I am proudest of is my first field season running a field team solo for my PhD, but probably the most unique fieldwork experience I had was studying abroad in Panama during my junior year of University. It was my first time designing, piloting, and carrying out ecological fieldwork. I immediately fell in love with it and we had some truly invaluable experiences working in incredible rainforest and coral reef locations.
"Heading off on Barro Colorado Island with a (very realistic) predator simulation looking for Howler Monkeys."
How many PhDs did you apply for – what were you looking for?
I applied to three programs. Working for a few years after my undergraduate degree to gain some experience in global health, research, and the more clinical/medical side of infectious disease gave me a really good idea of what I was looking for by the time I was applying. I was really keen on a collaborative department, a lot of independence in designing my research, and a study system that would allow me to carry out experimental work—Edinburgh and my project ended up a great fit for these criteria.
What is the most bodged piece of equipment you have had to use during field/labwork – did it work?
Maybe not quite ‘bodged’ but I have had to get a bit creative on the equipment I use. For example, a kitchen colander makes a handy strainer to separate wood chips and mouse faecal pellets!
What one piece of advice would you give to a masters student applying to PhDs now?
E-mail supervisors you would like to work with early, and thoughtfully. Your relationship with your supervisor is a really crucial part of your PhD, so fit in this regard can really be a crucial decision point outside of what the project sounds like on paper. And don’t be shy about asking current students of a department or group questions on interviews or visits- they are an invaluable asset and want to help!
How often do you meet with your supervisor?
Amy and I met every other week or so for most of my PhD, and are meeting once a week now that the final countdown is on to keep on the weekly progress.
What supervisor traits are important to you?
I really appreciate supervision which is not micro-managed. A lot of my growth as an academic has been from relying on myself as a first defense to trouble-shoot. I also think that the best supervisors consider all aspects of their student and have their best overall interests (research, career, mental health, etc) in mind.
What do you think are the worst supervisor traits?
I’ve been pretty lucky with my supervisory experiences but think I would struggle with things like lack of clear expectations of how the supervisory relationship will be managed or over-influencing project development at the expense of student interests.
In one sentence what is your PhD about?
I use a wild wood mouse system to investigate the impact of nutrition quality on host-parasite dynamics.
What has been your academic highlight of the last year?
Participating in the IDEAS Immunity Across Scales Workshop run by Clay Cressler prior to EEID last June in Glasgow. It was such a stellar group of participants and a really incredible opportunity to be involved in exciting discussions about the future directions of my field.
Have you had an academic lowpoint of the last year – if so what happened?
I can’t say anything very specific led to a low point, but I think the tail end of 3rd year, with a long stretch of only analysis and writing going on without any conferences or fieldwork to break it up, was a general low in that it was sometimes difficult to connect actively with a lot of aspects of my work and career that I love.
Which academic idol/scientist have you met?
In my third year our cohort hosted Vanessa Ezenwa as our invited postgraduate speaker. I had been familiar with and respected her work for a long time and had met her briefly at conferences before but during her visit she engaged a lot with the students which we really appreciated.
Which academic idol/scientist would you most like to meet?
There are a lot of academics I would love to meet so it is hard to pick one. Twitter has introduced me to a lot of great scientists who are really passionate about their work. One of whom I would love to meet is Sarah Knutie. Her work is really exciting and aligned with a lot of my interests, and she is really transparent on Twitter about her experience as a new PI and woman in academia which is really refreshing and inspiring.
"Our stellar wood mouse team"
Do you have a favourite paper?
I have a lot of favourite papers! One that definitely sticks out in my mind though is Lello et al’s 2004 Nature Paper https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15103373. I came across it when first learning about disease ecology and becoming interested in co-infection and was just so jazzed by the conceptual discussion about the interactions between parasites, their importance for disease control, and evidence in a natural wild system for multiple types of ecological interactions among co-infecting parasites.
What has been your favourite conference so far – why?
EEID (Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases) has been my favourite conference so far. It was the first conference I ever attended, right after I made my decision to accept my offer at Edinburgh. The enthusiasm of all the participants and really exciting work being presented made me so happy and excited to be starting my journey in the field, and it was one of the highlights of my PhD to get to present at the meeting myself last year.
What hours do you typically work?
It really depends on which ‘phase’ of my PhD I’m in. Fieldwork stretches saw me up very early and in the field/ lab til’ all hours to get all of the samples processed. Lab work bouts are my most structured 10-6ish sort of schedule, and writing or analysis can be very variable—I try to just make the most out whatever productive times I can find!
How do you avoid procrastinating?
Sometimes poorly, but I have been using a Passion Planner to schedule my short-term and long-term plans and goals for most of my PhD and it has been a great organisational tool.
What motivates you in your day to day PhD life?
I really love what I do, so a lot of my motivation is excitement to work toward answering my research questions. A huge motivation as well for me is also regular science communication and presenting my work at conferences. I love learning about other great work in the field and thinking about how my work fits into the bigger picture—it is what keeps me motivated to work not just on my own experiments but toward contributing to the field.
What do you do when you’re not working – how do you balance it with your PhD?
I’ve been a competitive rower since my first year at University, and am currently rowing with a local club in Edinburgh, so when I’m not working I row a lot. It is definitely tough to balance at times, and at times feels a bit crazy, but I really like the structure of training and it’s great to have the comradery and shared goals of my team as an outlet from work stress.
"Our crew from St. Andrew Boat Club at Women's Head of the River, photo by Ben Rodford"
If a genie could grant you one wish to help with your PhD what would you wish for?
I could have really used a mouse trap washing machine during field seasons.
What would be your dream job?
Honestly not far from what I’m doing now—investigating the ecological processes that determine infection dynamics. I do hope that down the line, however, I am also able to be actively involved in engaging with the disease control implications of what my research can mean intervention-wise.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Hopefully in a second post-doc or fellowship, continuing to work toward putting together an independent research programme.
One word to sum up your future in academia:
Enthusiastic!
What do you want to achieve outside of academia in the coming year?
I’m looking forward to a big race my crew and I have in London this March. We’re hoping to retain a pennant that we won last year, but generally rowing in winter is a long haul of grim weather and we’ve had a great group training this year so it will just be really fun to compete and see what we can do together. I’d also really like to see more of Scotland.
What essential tool hardware/software could you not do your PhD without?
Hardware – mousetraps; software- R; other- chocolate biscuits
Who has been your academic role model/inspiration and why?
I have a lot of role models that have inspired me in academia. In undergrad, Andrea Graham and Amy Pedersen were both people I looked up to as women in science truly engaged in their work and really pushing conceptual boundaries of the field, so it has been so great to work with both of them as undergraduate and PhD mentors respectively. Day to day though I am also inspired by my peers. I am constantly learning from my friends and peers in my department and blown away by the quality of work and enthusiasm of other students I’ve met at conferences.
Where is somewhere you would like to work in the future?
Anywhere that I can be surrounded by people excited by their work and where I can continue to explore the research questions I’m passionate about.
Do you have a favourite organism?
My favourite organism is currently my study organism. Wood mice are just so charismatic and a wonderful study species!
"Checking a mouse for ectoparasites in the field"
Are there any social interactions/meetings which have enhanced your PhD experience?
Our department is quite social around things like tea breaks and happy hours, which can be a great way to interact with PIs informally. In addition, my flatmate and I co-ran a PhD journal club in my second and third year which was a fun forum for students only to present and get feedback on their work in a relaxed setting, and there are a lot of opportunities for students to engage with visiting speakers. So, overall lots of varied opportunities to informally or formally engage with members of the department at all levels which has absolutely enhanced my PhD experience.
What major question in your subject area is yet to be addressed – why is it important and why isn’t anyone addressing it?
There is currently a lot of rapid change at the human: animal interface due to things like urbanisation and climate change. There is therefore a lot of interest in the ability to predict how these changes will influence infection disease dynamics for both wildlife and humans, but there are so many unknowns and challenges that reliable predictions are very difficult. For example, I’m really interested in how anthropogenic food provisioning influences parasite community, but there are so many diverse parasites across different wildlife systems and so many ways food might influence wildlife! So how do we address this? Collecting and using empirical datasets to parameterize theoretical work will be really important in moving our understanding forward. There are some really great examples of this already ongoing and I’m excited to see (and hopefully contribute to!) even more development in this area during my career.
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