This week's PhDetails is #80 with Morgan Hughes! Morgan was born in the UK, raised in Florida and returned to the UK in 1999 to do her BSc in Physical Geography. She then did an MSc in Biological Recording and is now doing a PhD in Animal Behaviour and Wildlife Conservation studying bats of the Urban Fringe at the University of Wolverhampton in the UK. Morgan has spent her working career as an Ecologist specialising in protected species (particularly bats) and has been working in bat conservation for 15 years. You can find Morgan on Twitter @TheReremouse
Well let’s start off talking about completely unscientific stuff: What is your favourite band/musical artist pre 1980?
Pre-1980 would have to be the Beatles. I was raised on a strict diet of Beatles by my dad and of motown and Abba by my mom.
Favourite band/musical artist post 1980?
I literally cannot pick one. All time is probably Radiohead, but I’ve got Bear’s Den on incredibly high rotation at the moment, and always Elliott Smith.
Favourite movie?
In recent years it’s definitely Interstellar. I’m a bit obsessed with post-apocalyptic and dystopian sci-fi.
Do you listen to podcasts? What are some of your favourites?
I do! Can’t recommend “99% Invisible” and “The Anthropocene Reviewed” enough. I also listen to the “Pop Culture Happy Hour” and “Ted Radio Hour”. Best British podcasts are “Kermode & Mayo Film Review” and “Infinite Monkey Cage”.
Where do you study and who are your supervisors?
I study at the University of Wolverhampton in the UK under Drs Lynn Besenyei (Biology), Chris Young (Landscape) and Simon Maddock (Genetics). Yes, I have three supervisors!!!
What year of your PhD are you in?
Just coming to the end of my 2nd year part time (but I’m hoping to finish in 4 years instead of 6, so it’s been pretty full-on and definitely not part time hours!
Who’s giving you the money – and for how long?
No one. I’m entirely self-funded, which is really hard. But I’m stubborn and determined to do it, even though it means making sacrifices (giving up my apartment to move into a house-share, for example).
Do you have any publications – if so where (these will be linked to in the post)?
All my stuff is on ResearchGate HERE
Did you do a masters – where was it and was it about?
Yep, I did an MSc in Biological Recording at the University of Birmingham, UK. It was basically about the principles of biological recording for ecological research. Good data management, planning and facilitating fieldwork, eliminating recorder bias and data sharing. It was an awesome course now being run through Manchester Metropolitan University and the Field Studies Council. It was great because as it was also self-funded, I was able to work full time and do my studies during residential weekends. I did a lot of varied field and classroom modules but specialised in aculeate Hymenoptera.
Do you do fieldwork? What is the best fieldwork you have ever done and what made it great?
Yes, I do loads of fieldwork. From April to October, I basically live in the woods at night! I do lots of advanced bat surveys (mist netting, harp trapping, biometrics and DNA sampling), working with a group of about 40 volunteers who are training to do bat handling, sound analysis, all kinds of stuff. We are a big family and really miss each other over the winter when the bats are hibernating.
Without doubt, though, my best fieldwork experience was earlier this year when I got to go to Ecuador to teach bat survey, handling and identification to BSc and MSc students. It was just fantastic being somewhere so remote and working in an almost completely un-recorded site.
How many PhDs did you apply for – what were you looking for?
I didn’t apply for any. I was already running my research project as a licensed research project and I approached the University of Wolverhampton with a proposal for a self-funded PhD and two months later I was enrolled. I knew exactly what I wanted because I was already doing it.
What is the most bodged piece of equipment you have had to use during field/labwork – did it work?
I’ve been using some low-cost infra-red cameras to monitor bats in roosting spaces, which has involved cobbling together the camera, power bank, bat detector, IR light rig and battery on a tripod with a bracket and cheese plates to get everything mounted and pointing in the right direction. It looks like a robot. Works like a dream.
What one piece of advice would you give to a masters student applying to PhDs now?
Choose something you are borderline obsessed about because you will have to live, sleep and breathe it for YEARS.
How often do you meet with your supervisors?
Monthly really but having ‘proper’ meetings, we aim to do these every 8 weeks or so. But they are always on WhatsApp or email if I need them.
What supervisor traits are important to you?
Approachability, imagination and keenness to be involved. Two of my supervisors join me for fieldwork, which is brilliant.
What do you think are the worst supervisor traits?
I suppose if they are so busy they are hard to get hold of, which happens sometimes.
In one sentence what is your PhD about?
Assemblages, demographics, relatedness and behaviour of bats in the Urban Fringe.
What has been your academic highlight of the last year?
Speaking at the International Bioacoustics Congress in Brighton about a survey technique I have developed for tracking bat movements on waterways. I was also nominated for the Pete Guest Award, which is a national UK award for significant contribution to bat conservation.
Have you had an academic lowpoint of the last year – if so what happened?
Oh I have them every week. Every time I feel overwhelmed by how much there is to do.
Which academic idol/scientist have you met?
Well, I got to meet Prof. Alice Roberts last year, on whom I’ve had a big nerdy girl crush on since forever. She was so awesome.
Which academic idol/scientist would you most like to meet?
So many. Merlin Tuttle and George McGavin are pretty high on my list. Not so much academic, but I’d absolutely love to meet Chris Hadfield.
Do you have a favourite paper?
I’ve got a favourite fairly recent paper about using acoustic lures to FINALLY successfully catch Florida Bonneted Bats (Braun De Torrez et al., 2017), and there have been a few which have directly shaped my methodology for my PhD: (Middleton, 2017; Weller and Lee, 2007).
What has been your favourite conference so far – why?
The 2019 Mammal Symposium in Glasgow because it was my first time presenting a poster (its on my Researchgate), and I didn’t realise just how many awesome people take an interest in your work.
What hours do you typically work?
I work full time as an ecologist 35 hours a week, and in field season I’m doing fieldwork 8 hours twice a week and data processing 4 hours twice a week (as a minimum) – so a bare minimum of 40 hours phd work. Out of season I switch to research and lab work, which is about the same.
How do you avoid procrastinating?
I am super-organised and set millions of deadlines. I use Monday.com (free to students) to plan, organise, Gannt charts, all the things…
What motivates you in your day to day PhD life?
I think the biggest thing is just how under-valued and under-studied urban fringe species are. I feel that the results I’m finding will have real-world impact as well as academic impact. I like the feeling of innovating, and I love training my volunteers and seeing them grow academically and professionally.
What do you do when you’re not working – how do you balance it with your PhD?
Um. I don’t. Well, I go to the cinema once a week, but genuinely I’m doing this all the time. I’m on such a tight (admittedly, self-imposed) schedule that I can’t afford to not do it this way. Luckily, my survey team are very close friends and surveys are our social life, too, so I don’t get isolated.
If a genie could grant you one wish to help with your PhD what would you wish for?
Funding. Oh my god, funding would be a dream. Or a Harry-Potter-Style time turner.
What would be your dream job?
I’d like a post-doc somewhere in Central or South America, but with the flexibility to spend part of my time in the UK with my friends and part in Florida with my family. (UF in Gainesville would be perfect if they are listening……)
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Finished with this study and onto the next.
One word to sum up your future in academia:
Bats.
What do you want to achieve outside of academia in the coming year?
Improving my Spanish. I speak it fairly well but I want to become fluent.
What essential tool hardware/software could you not do your PhD without?
I have to put a few down here, because I am utterly dependent on Epicollect5, Mendeley and QGIS (all of which are free) and also Batloggers/BatExplorer and the EMTouch 2Pro detectors I received from Wildlife Acoustics Scientific Product Grant.
Who has been your academic role model/inspiration and why?
Just, like, every academic on twitter. They are a constant inspiration.
Where is somewhere you would like to work in the future?
Back to Ecuador, or in Florida
Do you have a favourite organism?
Yep, I’d have to say Eurasian badger (Meles meles). I’ve done a fair bit of research on them but they aren’t what my PhD is about.
Are there any social interactions/meetings which have enhanced your PhD experience e.g. social seminars/group meetings?
We have a Journal Club at the university and have just set up an R Club. I also attend research student seminars (which are mostly medical/biological based rather than ecological, but it is good to stay in touch with other researchers and to support them).
If you could change one thing about your group/department structure what would it be?
More funding for ecology PhD studies – the university has a disproportionate emphasis on biomedical research, and I’d love to see that branch out. There are only 4 of us in Animal Behaviour and Wildlife Conservation (only 3 funded), so we can feel like outsiders sometimes, but it used to be just me, so things are improving.
What major question in your subject area is yet to be addressed – why is it important and why isn’t anyone addressing it? In very simple terms, I set out to find out whether ‘rare’ species in urban fringe woodlands are genuinely rare or if they are just under-recorded. This has then led to developing new survey techniques and establishing minimum survey effort to ascertain likely species assemblages in urban habitats (based on net hours and survey hours). I’m looking at biometric differences in species across the conurbation, and whether the conurbation represents a barrier to genetic dispersal. These things haven’t really been looked at because even bat conservationists simply favour areas where they will get more bat species, and there is a persistent assumption that bat species richness is much lower in urban areas. That assumption appears to be wrong and I hope to prove it.
Comments
Post a Comment