Outside the lab, I spend as much time as I can in the field. I am a member of The Explorers Club
and have taken part in expeditions ranging from simulated Mars missions in the Utah desert to biodiversity
surveys in Madagascar and fieldwork in Croatia.
At The Explorers Club.
utah · mars desert research station
Crew biologist on three consecutive missions
Over three consecutive years, I served as crew biologist on analogue Mars missions at the
Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in the Utah desert. These campaigns combine field ecology,
astrobiology, logistics, and the psychology of living in isolated, confined environments.
As crew biologist, I helped design and carry out biological experiments that used the Martian analogue
landscape as a testbed. Work included surveys of animal and plant life in extreme conditions, and field
sampling under EVA (extravehicular activity) constraints.
Collecting Black fly larvae from a creek near the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah.
croatia · summer 2020
Fieldwork: tortoises, bats and butterflies
In the summer of 2020 I joined a field team in Croatia, helping with biodiversity monitoring and census work
near Krka National Park. The main focus was on local tortoise populations, but we also conducted surveys of
bats and butterflies across different habitats.
madagascar · mariarano forest, 2018
Research assistant in the dry forests of northern Madagascar
In 2018 I worked as a research assistant in the Mariarano Forest in northern Madagascar, a dry
tropical forest rich in endemic species. The expedition focused on biodiversity surveys and species-specific
monitoring across multiple taxa, from reptiles and amphibians to birds and small mammals.
My work included helping with live-trapping, mark–recapture studies, nocturnal transects and habitat
characterisation.
