Personal Statement
I am the Outputs Development Manager within the Research, Partnerships and Innovation directorate (RPI) at the University of Liverpool. Our team seeks to maximise the quality of research outputs via researcher training, resource creation and establishment of an outputs development framework. We work closely with teams across the institution to centralise and streamline outputs support. We are keen to support research outputs in all of their forms from journal articles and books to exhibitions and patents, appreciating the wonderful diversity of research at Liverpool. Our primary strategy to achieve our goals is through researcher development - empowering researchers to make the most out of their excellent research. Through this role, I hope to elevate the reputation of both the university and the city of Liverpool, as a hub for research excellence and innovation.

Alongside this role, I am a post doctoral research associate at the University of Cambridge. This follows on from the completion of my PhD in cross-species genomics and neuroscience. My background in scientific research helps me understand the importance of high quality research and understand the perspectives of Liverpool academics. In particular, I have a passion for global health and international development.

I am also a trustee at Insight Outreach (Charity number: 1178862) where I lead the fundraising strategy. Further, I sit on the Editorial Advisory Board for the Developing Academic Practice (DAP) journal.

Research Overview
My part time post doctoral research associate position directly follows on from my doctoral studies. Our work focuses on elucidating the genetic basis of obesity using cross species genomics, with dogs as the primary discovery model. Such an approach offers translation benefits for human medicine as well as mammalian biology more widely. We follow up genetic discovery with functional cellular work, investigating the underlying neuroendocrinology. Not only have we identified novel obesity genes of relevance to dogs and humans, but we also discovered a previously unknown cellular mechanism affecting the leptin-melanocortin pathway, the central nexus for energy homeostasis.

Our work is trail blazing in the use of non-traditional animal models for genetic discovery and contributes to an improved social understanding of this complex disease, with implications for both veterinary and human medicine.