Tian Tian

I have an ecological science background and primarily focus on environmental DNA-related research. I am passionate about environmental community analysis, and the doctoral qualification I am working towards can fulfil both my research interests and future research career development, providing me with research experiences, troubleshooting skills, and other relevant working skills that are helpful for my future career.

For my current PhD study, I am really enjoying working with a professional team in a research institute that has different experts who can efficiently and effectively provide me with advice on my research most of the time.

I like the comprehensiveness of my PhD, which involves fieldwork, lab work and computing work. These bring me a lot of different experiences and research skills. Also, my programme is directly related to the benefit of the real aquaculture industry. Biofouling has a pronounced negative impact on the profitability of mariculture. By understanding the community composition of biofouling, we can provide better advice for mitigation.

My PhD is fully funded by the Growing Future Programme of Plant and Food Research Institute (PFR), which supports all of my living expenses, domestic travels, research expenses and tuition fees.

I am an off-campus student so I spend most of my time at Plant and Food Research Institute, although I have been to the university campus for the doctoral induction workshops. Both workshops helped me better understand what a general PhD journey looks like. I also met many PhD students from other fields as well as my third supervisor Andrew, who is very friendly and showed me around the campus. We are still in touch.

In Nelson I have two supervisors: Maren from PFR and Xavier from the Cawthron Institute. This means I can access the research facilities as well as join different social and academic activities from both sides. We have a lab group with a great atmosphere and regular lab meetings and lab social activities which bring together a lot of different interests, which is always so much fun! We also have an international student group in Nelson where I have made a lot of friends. Together we have explored many places in the north part of the South Island, and we are planning on exploring more in the future!