Profile
Liam Crowley
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About Me:
I’m an entomologist and I love insects! You can usually find me outside looking for, photographing and recording interesting species.
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Read more
I live in Birmingham and I love wildlife and nature. In particular, I’m fascinated by insects – the little things that run the world! You’ll often find me outside, and when I’m not looking for cool bugs I like hiking, climbing, mountain biking, kayaking, archery etc. I’ve been lucky enough to climb mountains on 5 continents, so now I’m desperate to visit New Zealand and make that 6!
New Zealand links to my other great love, the Lord of the Rings. I love reading, especially fantasy and sci-fi, and the works of Tolkien are my absolute favourite. Tolkien also had a love of nature and grew up not far from where I live!
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My Work:
I find and identify insects at Wytham Woods for full genome sequencing. I study the unbelievable diversity of insect species and try to find out about their ecology, behaviour and evolution.
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My Typical Day:
I spend much of my time at Wytham Woods, where I often spend most of the morning looking for insects. Then, in the afternoon I’ll take any samples to the lab in the nearby field station and preserve the DNA.
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Education:
Hagley High School and Sixth form,
The University of Bath,
The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (Placement year),
Harper Adams University,
The University of Birmingham. -
Qualifications:
11 x GCSE including Double award science, Maths, English –
A level Biology, Chemistry & Physics –
BSc Biology (with a placement year) at the University of Bath –
MSc Entomology at Harper Adams University –
PhD at the University of Birmingham -
Work History:
Assistant Ranger, Wyre Forest District Council Ranger Service –
Learning department volunteer assistant at the West Midlands Safari Park –
Assistant Fish and Wildlife Officer, Environment and Sustainable Resource Development, Alberta, Canada –
12-month student placement with the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust –
Work experience at the Centre for Pollination Studies, University of Calcutta, India –
Research assistant, ‘Behaviour & Genetics in Tropical Paper Wasps’, Trinidad, University of Bristol. -
Current Job:
Postdoctoral invertebrate field biologist at the University of Oxford, based at Wytham Woods working on the Darwin Tree of Life project.
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My Interview
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What did you want to be after you left school?
Zoologist
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Yes! I think I just wanted to go outside.
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Queen
What's your favourite food?
Any kind of pasta dish
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
1 - That I could find and describe a new species of digger wasp 2 - That I could visit and climb mountains in New Zealand 3 - That I could write a book about insects/wasps
Tell us a joke.
A dung beetle walks into a bar and asks 'is this stool taken?'
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