I am an evolutionary ecologist and Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Hamburg, Germany. I’m broadly interested in life history evolution, reproductive strategies, and sexual selection and conflict. My current research investigates sexual antagonism in the Springbok mantis (Miomantis caffra). Females of this species attack and cannibalise males without mating. But males have evolved to fight back against aggressive females by wrestling them in pre-mating struggles that increase the chance of mating but cause females serious injury in the process. My research investigates the causes and consequences of these antagonistic interactions.

My other research interests include understanding how interactions between the sexes (mate rejection, sexual conflict, mate scarcity) contribute to the maintenance of obligate sex. My work on this topic has mostly focused on facultative parthenogens—species that engage in both sexual and asexual reproduction—including the charismatic Australian spiny leaf stick insect (Extatosoma tiaratum), the Hurricane Larry stick insect (Sipyloidea larryi), and the Peppermint stick insect (Megacrania batesii). I also used individual-based models to generate new theory.