I am currently a PhD candidate based at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in the Netherlands working with Dr. Luis Valente and Prof. Rampal Etienne.

I study evolutionary patterns and processes that help shape plant diversity on islands. My research focuses on the incredibly diverse Asteraceae family and their evolution and diversification in the context of island biogeography. I use a combination of field and herbarium work to study and sample island communities. We extract the DNA and sequence with target capture (HybSeq) to build time-calibrated phylogenetic trees of entire island communities. Then apply a macroevolutionary island biogeography model (DAISIE) to analyze and reconstruct the build-up of the diversity for the entire native Asteraceae assembly on islands. I am currently working on the Asteraceae of two remote oceanic archipelagos: Hawai'i and the Mascarenes.

I also have an interest in the understudied radiation of Fitchia and Oparanthus (Asteraceae) across a constellation of archipelagos in Polynesia. 

At Kew, I worked on the conservation of the New Guinea flora as a project researcher on the Tropical Important Plant Areas (TIPAs) in Indonesian New Guinea. The aim of TIPAs is to identify and map critical sites for plant conservation across the tropics. During this project, I honed my skills in collections-based research and plant conservation. It was a wonderful period studying the incredibly diverse flora of New Guinea and working in one of the best herbaria in the world. 

Between 2017 to 2018 I completed my MSc in Taxonomy, Biodiversity and Evolution at Imperial College London. This was a dream course for me. Based at the Natural History Museum in London, I developed expertise and skills in taxonomy, systematics, and evolutionary biology through collections-based teaching and research. 

For my thesis, I worked on the Australian cloud forest flora at the Australian Tropical Herbarium (ATH) under the supervision of Dr. Darren Crayn . The Australian Wet Tropics in far north Queensland is a biodiversity hotspot home to many endemic and rare species.  I used species distribution models (SDMs) to understand how the plants endemic to cloud forests in the Australian Wet Tropics will respond to different climate change scenarios over the next century. 

The majority of my research is collections-based. In addition to the institutions listed above, I have also interned, volunteered, or worked at: 

Natural History Museum, London. Herbarium volunteer.  Supported the curation of the backlog in the British and Irish collection (2017-2018).  

California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco. Botany collections intern. Digitized and databased botanical collections from the Chiapas region of Mexico. Processed and databased bryophyte and lichen specimens (2016-2017). 

Conservatory of Flowers, San Francisco. Education coordinator. Led a science education workshop series that connected the public to the Conservatory's tropical plant collection. Mained public plant database and curated botanical entries and photographs (2016-2017). 

San Francisco Botanical Garden. Intern. Conducted plant surveys of regional old-growth Redwood forests to inform management in the botanical garden. Assisted with the cultivation of the California native garden and Redwood grove. Wrote plant identification and ethnobotanical guides (2013-2014). 

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Fun Fact: I always try to visit new botanical gardens and natural history museums when traveling. So far (2025) I have visited 98 gardens, natural history museums, and herbaria in 16 countries.