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FERG News January 2026

As 2025 wraps up, we’re looking back on the last month of the year (and ahead to 2026)! We’ve had a great few weeks of festivities, successes and outings, all wrapped up below (although not with a nice festive bow, unfortunately). If you want to see a summary of our full year, check out ourContinueContinue reading “FERG News January 2026”

FERG Yearly Round-up 2025

This year has been an incredible year of growth, collaboration and success for FERG, and certainly one we’ll look back on fondly! The group has grown (significantly!) just as we all have as researchers. We’re excited for another incredible year ahead! First though, we’ll recap some highlights from 2025… Many of us together for aContinueContinue reading “FERG Yearly Round-up 2025”

New preprint: Arthropod predator nutrient content changes with crop sowing period with implications for biocontrol

Check out our new preprint on bioRxiv, led collaboratively by Rosy and Rebecca, titled “Arthropod predator nutrient content changes with crop sowing period with implications for biocontrol”! This paper shows that the sowing time of crops can have important nutritional consequences for their arthropod communities, with the macronutrient contents of arthropod predators differing significantly betweenContinueContinue reading “New preprint: Arthropod predator nutrient content changes with crop sowing period with implications for biocontrol”

FERG News December 2025

Festive tidings from all at FERG! As the darker days sweep in, we’ve been getting cosy at conferences, writing retreats and our desks to present, prepare and publish some really exciting things over the coming months! Check out some of the highlights of our November below! New FERGers Welcome, Dheeraj, who has just started hisContinueContinue reading “FERG News December 2025”

FERG News November 2025

We hope you had a great Arachtober (on a seasonal note, see Jordan’s failed attempt at reproducing the FERG logo on the side of a pumpkin below)! Over the last month, many of us have been settling into lab work for the winter or getting stuck into the new academic year. There are still plentyContinueContinue reading “FERG News November 2025”

PHD STUDENTSHIP: Integrating molecular dietary analysis, nutritional ecology and network inference to assess ecosystem service trade-offs in omnivorous beetles

Do you want to use dietary DNA metabarcoding, micro-scale nutritional analysis, ecological field surveys and cutting-edge network inference and analysis methods to enhance our ability to predict the trophic interactions and ecosystem services of omnivorous ground beetles? Then check out this PhD opportunity! Applications are open for this NERC-funded PhD studentship (competition funded, so twoContinueContinue reading “PHD STUDENTSHIP: Integrating molecular dietary analysis, nutritional ecology and network inference to assess ecosystem service trade-offs in omnivorous beetles”

FERG News October 2025

Happy Arachtober! Given the various spider-related projects we have underway in FERG, it’s always a special time of year (and great for bizarre spider merchandise like the infuriating trend of shops selling ‘spider skeleton’ Halloween statues). We’ve had a busy month at conferences and workshops, and the new academic year has meant we have aContinueContinue reading “FERG News October 2025”

Jordan secured NERC-FAPESP funding with Raul Costa-Pereira to kickstart new UK-Brazil collaborative research!

Great news! Over the next two years, FERG will be building collaborative research with the Intraspecific Diversity Lab, Raul Costa-Pereira’s research group at Unicamp, Brazil! This is a really exciting project funded by the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and Brazil’s São Paulo Research Foundation, FAPESP. This project will involve exchanges between the twoContinueContinue reading “Jordan secured NERC-FAPESP funding with Raul Costa-Pereira to kickstart new UK-Brazil collaborative research!”

Happy Peer Review Week!

It’s Peer Review Week this week (15th-19th September 2025), and, here in FERG, we are big advocates of the importance of peer review! Peer review is one of the most vital pillars upholding scientific rigour and excellence, but it takes a community to keep it alive! Alongside encouraging and supporting one another to engage inContinueContinue reading “Happy Peer Review Week!”

Max Tercel’s visit from Cibio, Portugal!

We had the immense pleasure of hosting long-term FERG collaborator Max Tercel here in Newcastle! Max came to visit for EcoNet (which you can read all about in our recent post, including Max’s help running the molecular workshop) and Ento 2025 in Glasgow. Jordan and Max have worked closely together for most of their careersContinueContinue reading “Max Tercel’s visit from Cibio, Portugal!”