Meet the AINSC Communications Team

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To kickstart AINSC blogs, we thought it’d be great to introduce the working group behind AINSC communications: Eva, Katie, Kevin and Paolo.

Eva Dreyer

Who are you and where are you based?

I’m Eva Dreyer and I’m based in the National Herbarium, National Botanic Gardens of Ireland.

What is your role in natural sciences?

As Herbarium Assistant, I’m responsible for assisting the Keeper in curation and collections management for the national collection of approximately 600,000 specimens. These are mostly dried and pressed herbarium specimens of plant species collected in Ireland and around the world, dating from the 18^th century to modern day.

What does a typical work day involve for you?

My day to day work is varied, which I love. Typically I’ll split my time between curatorial work, such as updating the nomenclature of the collections, and managing the collections, like processing loans and digitising specimens. The acquisition of a new batch of specimens could mean an entire day spent mounting and labelling herbarium sheets, while the next day I might be trawling through our 100-year-old archives to find a nugget of historic information on a collector for a visiting researcher. I’m always learning something new about our collection, which I find thrilling!

Katie O’Dwyer

Who are you and where are you based?

I’m Katie O’Dwyer, I’m a lecturer and researcher at Atlantic Technological University, Galway.

What is your role in natural sciences?

I am deeply curious about natural history and biodiversity. Having studied zoology myself, I now teach zoology and supervise research on parasite diversity and ecology. A highlight of my role is engaging with enthusiastic students who share a fascination with the natural world.

What are your natural science related research interests?

I’m interested in the incredible diversity of parasites and how they interact with their hosts across the natural world, from tiny invertebrates to birds and mammals. Parasitism is actually one of the most common ways of life on Earth, probably making up over half of all species, and almost every organism is a host to parasites. I’m especially curious about discovering new parasites, how parasites affect their hosts’ health and behaviour, and how they manage to infect new hosts and spread. More broadly, I explore how these interactions can shape whole populations and ecosystems, influencing the world around us.

Kevin Healy

Who are you and where are you based?

I’m Kevin Healy and I’m a lecturer in Zoology, University of Galway.

What is your role in natural sciences?

My main role is in research where I lead the Macroecology Lab in Galway, which focuses on using comparative methods that compare species traits to identify general patterns in ecology and evolution. I am also involved with curation at the University of Galway’s Zoology and Marine Science Museum which also closely interlinks with my teaching role, particularly in relation to the undergraduate Vertebrate and Invertebrate classes.

What does a typical work day involve for you?

As with most lecturers it’s hard to define a typical day, but during term time it would often involve some form of teaching such as a lecture, lab or workshop. We are currently redeveloping our second year invertebrate teaching, so right now I’m busy developing new labs and introducing new specimens into our collection to cover as many animal groups as we can. Of course around this there are various admin jobs and when there is time typically its either editing, writing or developing new papers. Outside of the semester time I try to focus a lot more on research which often involves collecting large amounts of data from various sources in the literature, which is probably my happy place. 

Paolo Viscardi

Who are you and where are you based?

I’m Paolo Viscardi, Keeper of Natural History at the National Museum of Ireland.

What is your role in natural sciences?

I manage the Natural History Division of the Museum, overseeing the small team of curators that cares for and develops the national collections of around 2 million zoological and geological specimens, making them accessible to support research and engage the public.

What do you want to achieve for the natural sciences?

My main focus for the natural sciences is to highlight the role of museum collections that facilitate and strengthen our ability to address global environmental existential crises such as biodiversity loss, biosecurity threats, and degradation of essential ecosystem services.

Collections support taxonomy, maintain verifiable voucher specimens for validation, and provide evidence for historic baselines that can help combat shifting baseline syndrome. Museum collections also provide a mechanism for engaging with the public, inspiring new generations of scientists, environmentalists and artists who will contribute new knowledge and new ways of communicating to improve future interactions between humanity and the natural world.