Claire Armstrong Email and Phone Number

I completed a three-month data science internship with Aviva, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council. I applied machine learning techniques to topics such as improving customer outcomes, fraud detection, and increasing efficiency in claim handling.

During a three-month contract, I used whole-genome sequencing data to investigate haploid selection in zebrafish. This involved the use of R, Python, Unix, and HPC computing.

I assisted lecturers through teaching undergraduates during laboratory sessions and workshops, and leading discussion seminar groups.

I was responsible for the preparation of RAD-seq next-generation sequencing libraries, which involved DNA extraction, quantification, PCR, qPCR, size selection, and cleaning. I received training from the University of Sheffield NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility (NBAF) in NGS library preparation.

I spent three months on the Yachana Reserve, carrying out ecological surveys of butterflies, amphibians and birds, setting up camera traps, and assisting with mist-netting. I tested different types of bait for surveying butterflies, which resulted in catching butterfly species previously unrecorded on the reserve. Following this, I spent three months working on Sumak Allpa island on the Napo River, where I monitored the habitat use and feeding preferences of the island's primate communities, and compared butterfly communities in primary and secondary forest habitats. I was involved in teaching schoolchildren and in a native species regeneration programme at a local community.

During my time with GWCT I collected data for a variety of research projects, including radio-tracking woodcock and surveying roosting habitats, assessing vegetation regrowth in disused pheasant release pens, and monitoring soil invertebrate abundance in collaboration with the RSPB. In addition, I maintained digital records of field data, and used ArcGIS to record geographic data on radio-tagged partridge movements.