Who are we?
The Parasite and Pathogens group are a Special Interest Group of the British Ecological Society.
Our main goal is to provide an inclusive forum to further and promote research on parasite and pathogen ecology across borders and disciplines. The group brings together academic staff, research staff and students from around the world who have an interest in the ecology or evolution of parasites, pathogens and vectors
We organise symposia, training workshops and social events, mainly as part of larger conferences organised by other organisations, including the British Society for Parasitology, Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (EEID) and the Wildlife Disease Association.
Meet our committee members
Louise Cheynel, co-chair
Louise is a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Lyon - CNRS (France). Eco-immunologist, her research is centered around the immune function in wildlife - especially on understanding the individual and environmental drivers of immune responses in individuals, the relationships with microbial communities, parasites & ultimately with life-history traits. Her current MSCA funded project focuses on the effects of urbanization and artificial light at night on toads’ health, immunity and microbiome.
Luci Kirkpatrick, co-chair
Luci is a lecturer at Bangor University and a member of the EVECO group at Antwerp University. Her interests are in how population level processes such as disease transmission are influenced at the individual level and across different spatial scales. In particular she is interested in the mechanisms underpinning how disease transmission differs across landscapes undergoing restorative processes, with a focus on small mammal species. She also loves bats.
Dong Xia,
British Society for Parasitology rep.
Dong is Senior Lecturer in Bioinformatics at Royal Veterinary College. His research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms of host-parasite interactions using multi-omics platforms coupled with bioinformatics and machine learning algorithms from laboratory models and field samples.
Jo Cable,
British Society for Parasitology rep.
Jo is Professor and Head of the Organisms and Environment Division in the School of Biosciences at Cardiff University, Director of the NERC/BBSRC/MRC OneZoo Centre for Doctoral Training & co-founder of this BES SIG where she currently serves as an advisor to the P&P group. Originally trained as a freshwaterand marine ecologist, now with >25 years’ experience of parasitology she has focused on aquatic health particularly fish diseases addressing fundamental andapplied questions about parasite transmission and invasion biology.
Amy Sweeny, ECR & events rep.
Amy is a postdoc at the University of Sheffield. She is a disease ecologist interested in diet & host-parasite interactions, harnessing ecological patterns to understand disease control, and all things contained within mammalian guts. Though her interests and experiences are diverse, her driving interest is how dynamic factors across scales shape host-parasite interactions.
Lucy Henshall, communications rep.
Lucy is PhD student at the University of Aberdeen. She is studying Plague vector ecology and population genetics in Madagascar.
Susannah Gold, communications rep.
Susie is Senior Conservation Scientist, at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). Her research interest is in understanding the impacts of disease on wildlife populations, and how we can respond to outbreaks when they pose a threat to species conservation. He work at the RSPB is focused on diseases in wild bird populations, and in particular Avian influenza.
Lauren Nadler
Lauren is a lecturer in the School of Ocean and Earth Sciences at the University of Southampton, where she leads the Marine Behaviour and Physiology Lab, focused on better understanding why animals behave the way that they do and what physiological traits drive these observed behaviours. After coming from a broad ecological background, Dr. Nadler transitioned to working on parasites in 2016, examining host phenotypic changes following trematode and microsporidian parasite infections. She is also passionate about science communication with the public, with popular science pieces published recently related to parasites and disease ecology.
Emmanuel Serrano-Ferron
Emmanuel leads the Wildlife Ecology& Health group based at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain. Her is a wildlife ecologist, and his research integrates ecology, physiology, pathology,microbiology, parasitology and statistical modelling to address wildlife disease and management issues. He is particularly devoted to understanding theimpact of co-infections and nutritional status on wildlife health and therefore ecosystem integrity.
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