tish cookson

Team leader and Principle investigator 
University of Sheffield, Masters in Research (start in October 2018)
  • Extensive fieldwork experience from Kenya, South Africa and Ecuador
  • Has collaborated with multiple stakeholders including community groups and NGOs
  • Determined to ensure that the research is taken beyond the laboratory and has wider social, economic and environmental benefits

​Gabriela Montejo-Kovacevich

Field support and Butterfly specialist 
University of Cambridge, PhD candidate (2nd year) studying adaptation to climate in Andean butterflies (Ecuador)
  • Extensive tropical fieldwork experience from Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia and Borneo
  • Masters thesis working with butterfly diversity in logging concession with AMATA, Brazil

​Mahika Dixit

Research assistant 
University of Cambridge, St John’s College, Natural Sciences undergraduate 
  • Passionate about insects and exploration
  • Currently undertaking conservation, ecology and evolution modules

​Dr César Degado Vasquez 

Local collaborator in Iquitos, Peru. Native bees expert, IIAP
  • Decades of experience working in the project region
  • Special interest in native stingless bees and developing bee-keeping with indigenous communities
  • Will provide use of IIAP research facilities 

Luis Alberto Figueroa Reynoso

Dung beetle expert, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos
  • Beetle taxonomist with a particular interest in Scarabidaeae (dung beetles)
  • Extensive experience identifying species from the region of Loreto and conducting field surveys
 

Professor Gerardo Lamas 

World-renowned expert in Neotropical butterfly taxonomy, Museo de Historia Natural 
  • Published the only species checklist to date of Neotropical Butterfly Species
  •  Has provided support in obtaining research permits and will help us identify cryptic butterfly groups
"We have a strong, international team, great in-country contacts and a very exciting project;
​I have every confidence in its success."
​- Tish Cookson