Dr Matthew Hayes
About
United Kingdom
PhD in Zoology
Wolfson College
Research
PhD thesis:
Keeping cool in the future: Studying a community of British butterflies to identify effective conservation management for climate change
The world is getting warmer and extreme weather events are becoming more common. This is already having widespread negative impacts on many species, especially in fragmented landscapes, where it is difficult for animals to follow suitable climate as it shifts. My PhD project aimed to answer how we can protect such species in situ, where they already live, using UK butterflies as a target indicator group, as they are very sensitive to environmental change.
My work was multidisciplinary, combining a mixture of fieldwork, laboratory work and research on historical museum specimens. I tested a new management intervention, which conservation practitioners can use to protect species from climate change, collected information on which butterfly species are most at risk from temperature extremes and amassed a database of more than 24,000 historical UK butterfly specimens, containing 200 years of information to help guide modern conservation efforts.
After the PhD
Working at the University Museum of Zoology in Cambridge (UMZC) throughout my PhD, I had many opportunities to get involved with public engagement and spread the reach of zoological research to diverse audiences. I will look to continue this in my career going forward, mixing my passions of wildlife conservation, research and outreach.
I am now working as a research associate at the UMZC, leading on a public engagement project called Re-imagining Insects, which is increasing access to the museum insect collections. All of our insect specimens are behind glass and none of them can be handled. This makes it extremely difficult for blind or partially sighted individuals to engage with them. Using new 3D scanning and printing equipment, we are making larger than life 3D models of our insect collections, making tactile resources for our target audiences, which will also help with engagement across all groups.