I work as Principal Researcher in Statistical Methodology at BioSS with close links to the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.

I have two main research areas:

• 1. Structured random effects. Specifically generalized additive modelling and how to include flexible, wiggly components in our models to describe the complicated relationships between things. I’m also interested in how different statistical models are equivalent in some way and can be used to gain insights into each other.
• 2. Quantitative entomology. I am interested in how we can better model insects, specifically the phenology and population dynamics of agricultural pests like aphids.

A complete bibliography and other information can be found on my personal website.

I've worked on modelling all kinds of ecological (and sometimes non-ecological) data. I've spent a lot of time working out how to count animals and plants using statistics and computers, including models for detection (accounting for how observers might miss seeing animals, usually involving the distance between them) and building spatial models (where are the animals, and how do they relate to biological factors like vegetation cover and sea temperature?). In particular I've worked on attempting to include uncertainty from model components and from underlying environmental data.

Previously: Before joining BioSS, I worked as a research fellow at the Centre for Research into Ecological & Environmental Modelling and the School of Mathematics & Statistics at the University of St Andrews. While there I worked on improving spatial models for cetacean abundance and distribution with funding from the US Navy’s Living Marine Resources programme. I’ve also worked at NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center (sic) in Woods Hole, MA, the University of Rhode Island and CSIRO in Hobart, Tasmania.

Outside of work I like going bike-packing, travelling by train, and I play a lot of games (primarily German-style boardgames and things like Magic). I like making weird things on the internet.