This week’s PhDetails is with Tom Ratz who does his PhD at the University of Edinburgh. Tom did both of his undergrad studies in Biology and first masters in Behavioural Ecology at the University of Tours (France). He then then took the opportunity to learn the theoretical approach in ecology and evolution and did another masters in Ecological Modelling at the University of Rennes (France). After that, he moved to Edinburgh to start his current PhD in Evolutionary Biology. Tom investigates how the social and ecological environment influence parent-offspring interactions. I use the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides as a study system, which is the same species as the one Jon Richardson (PhDetails #31) works with and that breeds on dead animals.
Well let’s start off talking about completely unscientific stuff: What is your favourite band/musical artist pre 1980?
Jimi Hendrix
Favourite band/musical artist post 1980?
I have three, equally favourite: Bratsch, Tryo, Manu Chao
Favourite movie?
Life is Beautiful, Fitzcarraldo, and obviously Ace Ventura
Do you listen to podcasts? What are some of your favourites?
Yes I do. I quite enjoy the BBC’s Life Scientific, Monkey Cage, Book Shambles. This Week in Evolution is a very good one too. I more recently discovered Entocast, the podcast about entomology.
Where do you study and who is your supervisor?
I’m based at the University of Edinburgh. My supervisor is Dr Per Smiseth (@persmiseth).
What year of your PhD are you in?
In the middle of my 3rd year
Who’s giving you the money – and for how long?
My PhD is founded by the Darwin Trust of Edinburgh, for 4 years.
Do you have any publications ?
Yes, I have a few. As first authors I have published in Oecologia, the Journal of Evolutionary Biology, and Trends in Ecology and Evolution. The complete list can be found on my Google Scholar profile. https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=t4pTJ7gAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra
Did you do a masters – where was it and was it about?
I actually did two masters degrees. Both in France (tuition fees are nearly free France…), in Behavioural Ecology at the University of Tours and the second one in Ecological Modelling at the University of Rennes. During these masters, I had the opportunity to carry out some interesting research projects in Germany, Oxford and Edinburgh, where I eventually decided to come back for the PhD.
Do you do fieldwork? What is the best fieldwork you have ever done and what made it great?
I don’t currently do field work for my PhD project, apart from going out around parks in the city to catch beetles (so no really adventurous excursions). But right before starting the PhD I did spend some time in the field in Panama where I probably had my best experience. I was helping analysing data for a project run by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) and got offered to come along at their field station where they had tower crane installed in the middle of the rainforest. At the time they were using the crane to sample caterpillars in trees from the canopy to the ground (some trees grow up over 50 meters in height!). Above the forest, the panorama was just stunning and as a bonus butterflies, birds and monkeys were unexpectedly abundant – treetops in tropical forests are full of life.
How many PhDs did you apply for – what were you looking for?
I applied to two PhDs. I was looking for a project on behavioural plasticity in social traits but was also keen to learn new skills in evolutionary biology, such as quantitative and evolutionary genetics. Edinburgh is an excellent place for that because a great deal of pioneering work in these fields has been and continues to be done today in our institute. It’s a very stimulating place to work in.
What is the most bodged piece of equipment you have had to use during field/labwork – did it work?
I once tried to make a miniature airtight “flight chamber” to study the metabolic rate of a bug, and specifically how it changes between the resting and flying state. To do so, I built a system of pipes bringing a constant airflow through a Falcon tube, where the bug was placed. The final trick was to attach the bug to the tube from its back –superglue does it– and fix a small perch that is pulled away when the experimenter wants to induce flight: the poor bug was meant to feel it was falling and unfold its wings to start flying. Sadly no bug ever took off in my flight chamber.
What one piece of advice would you give to a masters student applying to PhDs now?
I think the working environment is an often overlooked factor when applying to PhDs. So when considering a PhD project I would advice to also have a careful look at the place (country, city, institute) and at the people you’ll work/interact with (lab, supervisors, collaborators).
How often do you meet with your supervisor?
We’ve meetings scheduled every other week. But we also have informal chats over coffee almost every day.
What supervisor traits are important to you?
I would say being passionate about their research and the ability to transmit this passion onto their students.
What do you think are the worst supervisor traits?
The lack of interest in their students’ project, wellbeing or own career perspective.
In one sentence what is your PhD about?
It’s about deciphering the causes and consequences of flexible parental care in response to changes in the surrounding environment.
What has been your academic highlight of the last year?
I when to a very friendly student conference in ‘Natural History’ in Paris, and to the fun EMPSEB meeting in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in south Spain. In addition, getting the chance to be involved into some scientific workshops for the general public, a departmental seminar and successful grant application were also quite satisfying academic-wise.
Have you had an academic lowpoint of the last year – if so what happened?
A promising experimental set up that fails to work, with no conceivable plan B. So I had to give up the idea. This happens to everyone I suppose and it’s nothing more than a bit of disappointment. Nothing serious, I just had to move on and start up a new project.
Which academic idol/scientist have you met?
I once briefly saw Richard Dawkins, Rosemary and Peter Grant at separated conferences. In Oxford, I would regularly bump into Bob May. I also nearly sold a bike to Alex Kacelnik. I should also mention Deborah and Brian Charlesworth, who I routinely see at coffee break in our department.
Which academic idol/scientist would you most like to meet?
I would equally really like to have a chat with Dave Gulson, Bob Trivers (on a road trip through Jamaica maybe), and Richard Lewontin. I also have a long list of people working more specifically in my field and whom I’m hoping to meet at the next couple of conferences.
Do you have a favourite paper?
Agrawal et al. (Science 2001) Science, which was the first empirical evidence of parent-offspring coadaptation –very neat experiment, I wish I had done it! Kuijper and Johnstone (Evolution 2017) is a more recent paper that I find really interesting and so well written it’s really easy to follow (which is not always the case for theoretical papers).
What has been your favourite conference so far – why?
My very first conference, Ecology and Behaviour 2016 in Toulouse (France) was a memorable experience. It was a small meeting in a very friendly atmosphere, with excellent talks and first-class plenary speakers.
What hours do you typically work?
I’m more a morning person: I like to start lab work at 8am when running experiments. But I’m also a slow worker, so I often stay after 5pm.
How do you avoid procrastinating?
I actually get more distracted before even starting to work on something. So I generally try to quickly get started with the work before anything more entertaining comes in sight.
What motivates you in your day to day PhD life?
Coffee breaks and chat with friends and colleagues. And when feeling a bit discouraged, a brief recall of how lucky I am to do what I always wanted to really helps cheering up.
What do you do when you’re not working – how do you balance it with your PhD?
When the moody Scottish weather allows it, I like to go out hillwalking or cycling. I spend the rest of the time reading, watching films, going out with friends, or collecting beetles.
If a genie could grant you one wish to help with your PhD what would you wish for?
Add two more hours per day (and maybe two more per night as well).
What would be your dream job?
I’d like to carry on research and become a PI.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Settling down my own lab, maybe as a fellow researcher in some exciting place.
One word to sum up your future in academia:
Thrilling
What do you want to achieve outside of academia in the coming year?
I’d like to go back to watercolour painting and hopefully carry on in the future. Climbing Ben Nevis in winter is also on the list.
What essential tool hardware/software could you not do your PhD without?
Excel and R.
Who has been your academic role model/inspiration and why?
My supervisors in the past and present. Because with each their own approach and way of doing research, they all seem to succeed professionally and are nice to work with.
Where is somewhere you would like to work in the future?
I wouldn’t mind living in places like Australia, Canada, Latin America, South Africa, or just Western Europe.
Do you have a favourite organism?
The more I learn about my study organism, the burying beetle, the more interesting I find it. Dung beetles rank among my favourites too because in many species parents work hard to build a nest and provision their offspring with food (poo). The differ from burying beetles in that they don’t seem to interact directly with their offspring.
Are there any social interactions/meetings which have enhanced your PhD experience e.g. social seminars/group meetings?
Most of them do enhance the daily life in the department: journal clubs, coffee breaks, happy hour seminars, chats with invited researchers, and lab meetings.
If you could change one thing about your group/department structure what would it be?
I feel we are (not desperately) missing chalkboards in our offices. Otherwise, I wouldn’t change anything.
What major question in your subject area is yet to be addressed – why is it important and why isn’t anyone addressing it? I think the main issues in my field have largely been tackled separately and the next promising move would be to combine the different approaches to get closer to real-life biology. For example, there has been a lot of interest in studying the role played by evolutionary conflicts among family members (i.e. parent-offspring conflict, sexual conflict, sibling competition) in the evolution and maintenance of family life. Those questions have been addressed separately so far because it is hard to understand a complicated system a first glance without studying each par independently –and those are no easy to test experimentally. But surely these factors are not always independent and must be studied all together.
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