Dr Andre Phillips, Teaching Fellow

I started my teaching journey as an outdoor instructor, loving getting others outside, before making the logical step to a biology degree to learn more about the natural world.

A photo of Andre holding a large eurasian eagle owl on his left arm. he is looking at the owl and smiling.

I took on a PhD at the University of St Andrews on the Bitterling fish's behavioural ecology and its parasitic relationship with freshwater mussels. This included chances to do fieldwork in the Czech Republic and Turkey. Post-PhD I spent some time working for Scotland's inshore fisheries research, primarily crabs and lobsters before some evolutionary biology work on fish parental care.

I joined the University of Edinburgh in September 2019, as a Teaching Fellow for the Reproductive Biology Honours Undergraduate Programme. There I got to learn a lot about course design and developed a passion for understanding how various pollutants impact the reproductive biology of ecosystems we pollute. Since joining the Biodiversity, Wildlife and Ecosystem Health programme in 2023, I have loved getting back to my biology, ecology and evolution roots, particularly the fascinating final-year projects students get to develop themselves.

I'll be found at the weekends in the highlands running, kayaking, hiking, swimming or any other sport really.

This article was published on 29 Feb, 2024