I am a BScAgric Applied Plant and Soil Sciences and MSc Entomology graduate from the University of Pretoria. In 2022, I completed my Phytosanitory and Biosecurity internship with FABI, which led to me pursuing a masters in forest entomology.  

My MSc project was in collaboration of FABI and ICFR and I was based in Pietermaritzburg for the duration of this project. The project was on quantifying the economic impact of the Eucalyptus snout beetle and evaluating how insecticides affect the biological control agent (Anaphes nitens) in the field.

My current PhD project is sort of an extension of my MSc work but on a different crop-pest system. For this project, I will be designing an integrated pest management programme for macademia felted coccid focusing on determining the economic injury levels, population dynamics, and assessing the sensitivity of the biological control agent (Metaphycus macademiae) to insecticides in the laboratory.