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 aContinue 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 betweenContinue 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 hisContinue reading "FERG News December 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 twoContinue 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 aContinue 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 twoContinue reading "Jordan secured NERC-FAPESP funding with Raul Costa-Pereira to kickstart new UK-Brazil collaborative research!"

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 careersContinue reading "Max Tercel’s visit from Cibio, Portugal!"

FERG joined NEG in hosting EcoNet 2025!

Following the last Symposium on Ecological Networks (EcoNet) in Israel in 2023 (which was the topic of one of our first blog posts), Darren Evans of the Network Ecology Group (NEG) was approached to host the next EcoNet. Darren asked Jordan, Katherine Baldock of Northumbria University, Madeleine Fabusova from NEG and Shai Pilosof from theContinue reading "FERG joined NEG in hosting EcoNet 2025!"