Rachel Nichols talks to us about her work to improve wild bee and pollinator diversity on farmland. Did you know there are over 270 species of bee in the UK?
In this episode we talk to Rachel about the importance of wild bees on farmland, and how her research aims to improve wildflower seed mixes on farms to boost pollinator populations. She tells us about her journey to starting a PhD, and confesses to googling “how to do a PhD?” in her first week...
We hear about the people and places that inspired her to study bees, what she loves most about them (spoiler - the male ones), and some VERY unexpected events during her farm-based fieldwork.
Rachel Nichols is a second year PhD Researcher at University of Sussex. Her research specifically looks at ways to improve wild bee and pollinator diversity on farmland, with a strong focus on wildflowers and solitary bees. Rachel has started up a small “Bee Group” in the Life Sciences department where Postgraduate Researchers working on bees and pollinators are welcome to come along for coffee and catch-up every month to help build a sense of community within the department. You can follow Rachel’s research on Twitter: @rachellinanaomi