Dr Astrid Andersson (2021)
Twitter: @AA_Andersson Instagram:@astrid_alex_andersson
Astrid is conducting research on the conservation of the critically endangered Yellow-crested cockatoo (Cacauta sulphurea) in both its native and introduced ranges. She has spent the last four years researching Hong Kong's introduced, ~150 strong Yellow-crested Cockatoo population, including roost counts, nest monitoring, recording vocalisations, camera trapping, habitat transects, diet analysis and observing interactions with other species. She also conducted bi-weekly surveys of the bird market in order to quantify local trade in this species.
Astrid is currently a Postdoc with Juha Merila at HKU. We continue to collaborate on the Cockatoo Genomics Project.
You can read more about her at: https://earthsavio.com/astrid/
Chloe Hatten - Ph.D. Candidate (completion: 2022)
Twitter: @ChloeWebster19
Chloe's PhD is focused on developing genetic tools that can help to enforce illegal trade of the critically endangered Helmeted Hornbill. In collaborating with forensics labs across the native range of this species, she is developing a genoscape - a map of genetic variation across the range of this species. Once completed, this map will assist in the identification of the origin of hornbill casques seized in trade.
John Allcock - PhD Candidate (Primary supervisor: Tim Bonebrake)
Twitter: @JAAllcock
John, a life-long birds, has worked in the Dingle Lab for more than 5 years, contributing to various projects including the Urban Noise Project, Songbird Trade Monitoring, and a nest box study on white-shouldered starlings. As well as birds, John also has a great interest in bats, and has recently started a PhD project (co-supervised by Tim Bonebrake and Dr Dingle) on urban bats. John is keen to increase public involvement with biodiversity conservation and research, particularly through the promotion of citizen science projects. He is also actively involved with the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society.
Tracey Prigge - Lab Manager, Senior Research Assistant
Twitter: @TraceyPrigge
Tracey is originally from South Africa where she received her BSc in Zoology and MSc in Genetics from The University of Pretoria. For her MSc she worked on the subcellular localization of Nonstructural protein NS3 of African Horsesickness virus. She also worked as a research assistant in the Forest Molecular Genetics Group at the University of Pretoria before moving to Hong Kong. She is the Molecular Lab Manager for the Conservation Forensics Lab and supports several of the ongoing projects in our lab. She is particularly interested in using her molecular background to tackle wildlife trafficking in Hong Kong, using genetic data for species identification, determining of sample origin, and mapping out trafficking routes.