Welcome to the Whelan lab!

Last week marked my first day as a University of Nottingham Anne McLaren Fellow. The AMF is a 3 year transitionary Fellowship that will help me establish an independent research group. I'll be in this role part-time until the end of the year in order to give me a chance to finish up my Marie-Curie Skłodowska Actions funded research in the McInerney group.

My research group will focus on using computational, ecological, and evolutionary techniques to study microbial communities. Specifically, I am interested in using networks and graph theory to help better understand how the microbiome contributes to health and disease. In the first instance, this will be focussed on human diseases such as cystic fibrosis and irritable bowl syndrome, but my longterm objective is to include studies of non-human and environmental microbial communities with the ultimate goal of incorporating the idea of "One Health" into my research.

I'm excited to have the opportunity to continue my research at the UoN, and to nurture an inclusive, inquisitive, and fun research environment. I know that I am not, never have been, and never will be perfect, but it is important to me that the philosophy of my research group focusses on equality and inclusivity.

Although right now my research "group" is really just me, I will soon be looking to co-supervise Undergraduate project students, MSc/PhDs, and Postdocs. As this website expands to include a lab manual, information on current research projects, and other goodies, I hope that you'll reach out with any questions or inquiries!