About Philip:
I am a PhD with a background as a marine biologist; I have a keen interest in seagrass habitats hoping to contribute to their health and restoration. I believe seagrass habitats are widely underappreciated and play an important role in mitigating climate change. My research has focused on seagrass ecology and microbiology, with previous projects investigating seagrass seed biology and the interactions between seagrass-associated bacterial communities using high-throughput sequencing and bioinformatics. My PhD project 'Bioengineering the Seagrass Microbiome to Enhance Plant Health and Resilience', is split between Cardiff and Swansea University and funded by SWBio DTP.
Biography
I have obtained a BSc (Hons) in Marine Biology at Newcastle University in 2024. My research project “A review of Zostera marina seed composition, germination and energy metabolism pathways” focuses on the differences in early seagrass seed growth from three separate populations of the Zostera marina species. It also involved using bioinformatics to research the enzymatic pathways that seagrass may use to metabolise starch which is an important energy reserve for the plant. I have also volunteered my time collaborating in the collection and analysis of samples for the North Sea time series. My MRes at Swansea University focused on seagrass microbiology. My project 'Unravelling the seagrass microbiome ', involved co-culturing seagrass bacteria using high-throughput technologies. During my MRes I developed skills in microbial handling, statistics and bioinformatics.