I come from a small, rural area called Broadfields in Canterbury, New Zealand, with a background in geology and biological sciences, which I studied at University of Canterbury. Upon completing my Master of Science there, which focused on the description, comparison, palaeobiology and phylogenetics relating to Paleocene fossil penguins from Chatham Island, I moved to South Australia in 2018 to pursue avian palaeontology.
I am generally passionate about the comparative anatomy of birds and its application to understanding extinct life. I am currently studying towards a Ph.D in vertebrate palaeontology at Flinders University, Australia, with a focus on rails (family Rallidae) and allies, and fossil representatives from the Oligocene and Miocene. I am also involved in other projects aimed at developing our understanding of bird evolution. My research interests relate to palaeoornithology, avian taxonomy, systematics, and phylogenetic methods.