Lailing Lee: Ecology and Conservation

Lailing Lee completed a paid summer internship in Ecology and Conservation, working on a project to examine the genetic diversity of midges breeding in the Great Stour at Westgate Parks, Canterbury.

Working under the supervision of Dr Rodrigo Vega, and with the mentorship of Prof. Dick Vane-Wright, Lailing helped to catalogue  existing midge samples held at CCCU, and create new slides collected from the Great Stour in Canterbury. The long term aim of the project will be to help develop a tool for the identification of midges using DNA barcoding, and the hope is that Lailing's work will be used to contribute to a research paper to be published in a scientific journal. 

Lailing really enjoyed her 10 week internship, and described it as 'a lot of fun'. She developed a range of useful skills  including attention to detail, working under a microscope, and time management that will help her stand out in the jobs market, and the whole experience has given her insight into the life of a scientific researcher. 

Lailing's research poster