People

Stuart Campbell, Principal Investigator

NERC Independent Research Fellow

Environmental Metabolomics Academic Lead (APS)

Stuart got his PhD from Cornell University (USA) after doing his BSc and MSc at Simon Fraser University (Canada).  He then returned to Canada for postdoctoral research at the University of Toronto, before moving to the UK.  He's genuinely interested in everything happening in the lab.

Email: stuart.campbell@sheffield.ac.uk

TwiXer: @StuartACampbell 

Upuli Wickramaarachchi, PhD Student

Upuli completed an MSc in Applied Statistics at the University of Peradeniya and a BSc in Agricultural Resource Management  at the University of Ruhuna (Sri Lanka).  She is funded in part by an AHEAD Scholarship from the Government of Sri Lanka, and a University Postgraduate Scholarship. She is also a Grantham Scholar. She has interests in ecological and agricultural entomology, chemical ecology, pollination, and apiculture. She is investigating the evolution and function of floral scent, and the chemical ecology of pollen. Some of Upuli's prior research can be found here, here, and here!

TwiXer: @upzitupzi

Hannah Ronan-Brown, PhD Student 

Hannah completed her MBiolSci in the Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield before starting a PhD. She is funded by a Faculty of Science Postgraduate Scholarship, and is also a Grantham Scholar. She has interests in evolutionary biology, ecology and plant-insect interactions, and her project is on the evolution and ecology of floral defence.

Elizabeth Oladapo, PhD Student

Elizabeth completed her MSc in Biotechnology in the Department of Applied Sciences, Edinburgh Napier University, UK. She is funded by a Faculty of Science Postgraduate Scholarship. She has interests in plant science and computational biology, and is studying floral scent evolution by combining metabolomics and genomics.

Abigail Barton, PhD Student 

Abigail completed her MSc in Conservation and Biodiversity and BSc in Geography at Lancaster University. She is studying biodiversity and ecosystem services in urban greenspaces, with an emphasis on the links between above and belowground arthropod diversity.  She is funded in part by the EPSRC and the Sheffield Institute for Sustainable Food, and is co-supervised by Jill Edmondson (Biosciences, University of Sheffield)

Rachael Haw, PhD Student 

After a BSc in Biological Sciences from the University of Birmingham, Rachael completed an MRes in plant-pollinator interactions in the lab - before taking the plunge and staying on as a PhD student. She is interested in ecology, entomology and global change biology, and is currently working on the impacts of air pollution on plant-insect interactions.  She is funded by the ECORISC DTP and is co-supervised with Karl Evans (Biosciences, Sheffield) and Laurence Jones at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (UK CEH)

TwiXer: @rachael_haw

Dr Yanan Liu, Postdoctoral Researcher

Yanan is working on the ecological impacts of air pollution on plant-insect interactions (part of a collaborative  NERC Highlights Grant). She completed her PhD at King's College London studying the impact of smoke pollution from wildfires on migratory insects. She also holds an MSc in Environmental and Energy Engineering from the University of Sheffield and a BSc in Resources Environmental, Urban and Rural Planning Management from Yunnan University (China). She brings a diverse background in environmental science, ecology, geography, and entomology to the lab!   

More info here!

Dr Tamires Talamonte de Oliveira, Postdoctoral Researcher

Tamires is working on the effects of air pollution on insect diversity (part of a collaborative NERC Highlights Grant). She hails from Brazil, where she completed her BSc at IFSULDEMINAS, and her MSc in Applied Ecology and Ph.D. in Entomology at Federal University of Lavras. Sheffield is the latest stop in her highly international academic journey, with stops in Flinders University in Australia, Rice University in the USA, and UNAM in Mexico. She has interests in insect biology, ecology and plant-insect interactions, with a particular focus on understanding how insect communities respond to changes in urban environments, including air pollution.

Molly Moseley, PhD Student

Molly joined the lab as a SURE scheme student during her BSc, and then continued with an MBiolSci, looking at pollinator behaviour and floral scent.  Undeterred by these experiences, she recently started a PhD in the lab and will be studying the role of floral scent regulation in the successful pollination of wild plants and crops.  She is interested in behaviour and chemical ecology of insects, especially bees and moths, but resents being stung. She also is very fond of 3D printed flowers.  She is funded by a studentship from the Sheffield Institute for Sustainable Food, and is co-supervised by Mike Smith (Computer Science, Sheffield) and Jurriaan Ton (Biosciences, Sheffield). She is also a Grantham Scholar.

TwiXer: @EntomologyMolly   

Stephanie Glendinning, PhD Student

Stephanie is working on pollinator-plant interactions in human-modified environments. Before moving to Sheffield, she completed a BSc in Ecology and Conservation at the University of St Andrews, and then a MSc in Entomology at Harper Adams University, where she won an award from the Royal Entomological Society (RES) for Top MSc project. She is interested in insects, but also dogs. She is funded by an ACCE DTP studentship, in collaboration with the RES, and is co-supervised with Jill Edmondson (Biosciences, Sheffield) and Luke Tilley (RES). She is also a Grantham Scholar.  For more information on Steph's research, check out her Sheffield Pollinators site

Safia El-Amiri, PhD Student

Safia is taking a multidisciplinary approach to understand how urban trees and their insect communities are affected by abiotic stress, using field work, metabolomics, and ecophysiology )(phew).  Previously, she did an MSc in Environmental Management, and a BSc in Physical Geography at Queen Mary University of London.  She is funded by a collaborative NERC ECORISC DTP studentship, together with Jill Edmondson and Holly Croft (Biosciences, Sheffield), Brett Sallach (York), and Aniko Kende (Syngenta).

Jamie Howe, PhD Student

Jamie recently started a PhD and will be working on the health and resilience of urban trees, including differences in tree-insect interactions between native and non-native species. He completed an MRes (Masters in Research) project in the lab looking at plant stress and pollen quality, and received the prize for top MRes student! He also did his BSc here at Sheffield, which included a stint as a research technician in Canada (nice one). He is funded by an ACCE DTP studentship and is co-supervised by Jill Edmondson (Biosciences, Sheffield)and Toby Pillat (York).

Sophie Truepenny, MRes Student

Sophie joined the lab this year as an MRes (Masters in Research) student, after completing a Zoology degree at Newnham College, Cambridge. Her undergraduate project investigated convergence in nectarivorous birds, and she has broad interests in ecology, conservation, and agriculture. This year she is working on the chemical ecology of plant-insect interactions. 

TwiXer: @SophieTruepenny 

Amber Easton, MBiolSci Student

Amber is also just starting her MBiolSci project in the lab.  She is really interested in complex ecological interactions involving plants and insects  Her project is TBD, but may involve the elephant hawkmoth (pictured at left)

Isabella Knight, Visiting Student

Isabella is visiting the lab from the University of Queensland, where she is studying a joint degree in Ecology and Economics. She is assisting on the DEFRAG project and is working on the effects of urbanisation on insect diversity and abundance, with Tamires Talamonte and Karl Evans. 

Collaborators and Associates:

Dr Heather Walker, Sheffield Metabolomics Facility (Associate)

Heather is a biochemist and runs the Department's state-of-the-art analytical mass spectrometry facility, part of Sheffield bioMICs. She has broad interests and expertise in the analysis of primary and secondary metabolites in a wide range of organisms, as well as in metabolite imaging, and is invaluable for many of the lab's projects!

Alumni (gone but not forgotten!):


Dr Elizabeth Oladapo, PhD 2023

Dr Emilie Ellis, PhD 2023 (currently a postdoc at the University of Helsinki) @ellis_ellis95

Agnes Chan, SURE Project Student 2023

Emma Matthews, MBiolSci 2023

Chloe Tucker, MRes 2023

Ellie Stainer, MRes 2022
Harry Fox, MRes 2021
Violette Pepper, MRes 2021
Alice Maitland, MRes 2020
Alex Brady, MRes 2020
Annie Cai, MRes 2019