NRI MSc student Kartheek Kundarapu had a unique opportunity to present his research project at the 17th Agricultural Science Congress held from 20-22 February at the GB Pant University of Science...
Human activity affects the environment in various ways. Industrialisation, urbanisation, agricultural practices and changes in land use are just a few of the ways we have negatively impacted our...
Imperial College London recently hosted an event to launch the Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein, a cutting-edge research initiative dedicated to advancing alternative protein sources. With over...
A recent report published on 25 March highlights the untapped potential of waste from horticultural crops to be transformed into high-value chemicals and materials. The report was released by...
Tropical countries are vital to global agriculture, supplying key commodities such as rubber, coffee, cocoa, oil palm and coconut to meet international demand. However, this demand drives widespread...
Post Doctoral Research Fellow
Agriculture, Health and Environment Department
I started at the university in January 2024 as a post-doctoral research fellow in the RodTickPathMan One Health project. The project investigates the link between grey squirrels, an invasive species in the UK, ticks and Lyme’s disease. I will focus on estimating the abundances of squirrels and other tick carriers using a range of field survey techniques but primarily camera traps.
Prior to this position, I completed my PhD at the University of Aberdeen (2018-2023) supervised by Prof Xavier Lambin (UoA), Dr Thomas Cornulier (Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland (BioSS)), Dr Nicholas Schurch (BioSS), Dr Philip Whitfield (Natural Research Ltd.) and Tom Dearnley (Forestry England). The project assessed the impact of persecution on the population dynamics of goshawks, a forest specialist bird of prey in the UK. I used a range of methods to do this, including field and laboratory work as well as complex statistical methods such as GAMMs and capture-mark-recapture models in a Bayesian framework. Additionally, I delved into the AI world and trained computer vision models to process and label the camera trap images I collected.
In addition to demonstrating on a range of practical and statistical courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate taught levels, I have also managed and lectured a final year undergraduate course titled Wildlife Conservation and Management. This included setting and marking written reports and presentations. I have also co-supervised honours and master’s level students.
In addition to traditional teaching, I have been heavily involved in groups which promote peer learning and development. In particular, I helped to run and hosted sessions with the Aberdeen Study Group who aim to promote knowledge exchange in a friendly setting, focussing primarily on statistics and coding.
August K, Davison M, Bortoluzzi C, Wellcome Sanger Institute Tree of Life programme, Wellcome Sanger Institute Scientific Operations: DNA Pipelines collective, Tree of Life Core Informatics collective, Darwin Tree of Life Consortium. The genome sequence of the northern goshawk, Accipiter gentilis (Linnaeus, 1758) [version 1; peer review: 2 approved]. Wellcome Open Res 2022, 7:122 (doi:https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.17821.1)
My research interests centre on the impact that humans have on the ecology of UK species. My PhD research focussed on how persecution has impacted the population dynamics of goshawks, a medium-sized, forest specialist bird of prey, in the northern UK. I used a range of methods, including GAMs to identify spatially and temporally lagged effects of covariates on reproduction and used a Bayesian framework to assess factors affecting survival rates. Continuing to make use of new modelling applications to fully understand the impact humans are having on other species is crucial to helping halt the biodiversity crisis we face.
A large portion of the project involved deploying camera traps at nest sites to get colour ring recoveries. This led me to the world of AI and computer vision to attempt to identify individual unmarked goshawks. This field is rapidly expanding but it’s use in ecology is often limited due to a lack of expertise and time to learn. I will continue to help bridge the gap with my current research, applying computer vision models to UK mammalian species. I aim to identify ways in which ecologists can more easily access this new technology.
I started at the university in January 2024 as a post-doctoral research fellow in the RodTickPathMan One Health project. The project investigates the link between grey squirrels, an invasive species in the UK, ticks and Lyme’s disease. I will focus on estimating the abundances of squirrels and other tick carriers using a range of field survey techniques but primarily camera traps.
Prior to this position, I completed my PhD at the University of Aberdeen (2018-2023) supervised by Prof Xavier Lambin (UoA), Dr Thomas Cornulier (Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland (BioSS)), Dr Nicholas Schurch (BioSS), Dr Philip Whitfield (Natural Research Ltd.) and Tom Dearnley (Forestry England). The project assessed the impact of persecution on the population dynamics of goshawks, a forest specialist bird of prey in the UK. I used a range of methods to do this, including field and laboratory work as well as complex statistical methods such as GAMMs and capture-mark-recapture models in a Bayesian framework. Additionally, I delved into the AI world and trained computer vision models to process and label the camera trap images I collected.
In addition to demonstrating on a range of practical and statistical courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate taught levels, I have also managed and lectured a final year undergraduate course titled Wildlife Conservation and Management. This included setting and marking written reports and presentations. I have also co-supervised honours and master’s level students.
In addition to traditional teaching, I have been heavily involved in groups which promote peer learning and development. In particular, I helped to run and hosted sessions with the Aberdeen Study Group who aim to promote knowledge exchange in a friendly setting, focussing primarily on statistics and coding.
August K, Davison M, Bortoluzzi C, Wellcome Sanger Institute Tree of Life programme, Wellcome Sanger Institute Scientific Operations: DNA Pipelines collective, Tree of Life Core Informatics collective, Darwin Tree of Life Consortium. The genome sequence of the northern goshawk, Accipiter gentilis (Linnaeus, 1758) [version 1; peer review: 2 approved]. Wellcome Open Res 2022, 7:122 (doi:https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.17821.1)
My research interests centre on the impact that humans have on the ecology of UK species. My PhD research focussed on how persecution has impacted the population dynamics of goshawks, a medium-sized, forest specialist bird of prey, in the northern UK. I used a range of methods, including GAMs to identify spatially and temporally lagged effects of covariates on reproduction and used a Bayesian framework to assess factors affecting survival rates. Continuing to make use of new modelling applications to fully understand the impact humans are having on other species is crucial to helping halt the biodiversity crisis we face.
A large portion of the project involved deploying camera traps at nest sites to get colour ring recoveries. This led me to the world of AI and computer vision to attempt to identify individual unmarked goshawks. This field is rapidly expanding but it’s use in ecology is often limited due to a lack of expertise and time to learn. I will continue to help bridge the gap with my current research, applying computer vision models to UK mammalian species. I aim to identify ways in which ecologists can more easily access this new technology.
