Students and Collaborators
The Jandt Lab is comprised of students at the University of Otago as well as students and colleagues working with me on projects throughout the U.S. If you’re interested in studying social insects and/or insect behavioural ecology in New Zealand, please email me your CV, relevant experience, and what types of questions you are interested in investigating. The University of Otago has a number of funding opportunities for post-graduate studies and research, so check that out too.
Students in Action
Current PhD Students
Prashant Neupane is a PhD student in Zoology. He is investigating nesting ecology in ground-nesting bees in Aotearoa.
Connal McLean is a PhD student in Zoology. He is investigating interactions among introduced and native bees bees in Aotearoa.
Connal currently serves as President for the Otago Entomology Society.
Greer Sanger is a PhD student in Zoology. She is investigating the ecology of kahukura | NZ Red Admiral (Vanessa gonerilla) and kahukowhai | Yellow Admiral (Vanessa itea) on native and non-native stinging nettle host plants (Urtica spp).
Emma Curtin is a PhD student in Zoology, studying introduced dung beetles. She is measuring the effects of these dung beetles on soil structure and permeability, and other aspects of their effects on agriculture.
Emma was also the founder of the Otago Entomology Society in 2019.
Current MSc Students
Joshua Castro is an MSc student in Zoology. He will be investigating how invert predator-prey interactions are influenced by urban noise.
Josh currently serves as Social Media Officer for the Otago Entomology Society.
Amanda Lee is an MSc student in Zoology. She will be investigating how wasps and flies engage with protein baits.
Si Ting Kwok is an MSc student in Zoology. She will be investigating learning across bee species with different levels of sociality.
Previous Students
Luna Thomas finished her PhD (Zoology) in 2023 studying morphometrics, population distribution, and behaviour of the endemic Helm’s stag beetle (Geodorcus helmsi).
Mateus Detoni finished his PhD thesis (Zoology) in 2021 studying the agression behaviour and transcriptomics of Vespula vulgaris invasive wasps. He also served as the Treasurer for the Otago Entomology Societybetween 2019 and 2020.
Mateus is now a Lecturer at Lincoln University.
Winter Miller finished her Master’s thesis (Zoology) in 2024 studying how impacts of global climate change impact pollinator efficacy in a crop environment.
Melita Busch finished her Master’s thesis (Zoology) in 2023 studying the foraging and defensive behaviour of the common wasp, Vespula vulgaris, and how this relates to their physiology. She is fascinated in insect behaviour and her main interest is looking at division of labour and task performance in social insects.
You can follow Melita on Twitter @entomelita.
Eloise Lancaster finished her Master’s thesis (Ecology) in 2022 studying the reproductive and chemical ecology of Monomorium antarcticum, NZ Southern ants.
Eloise currently works as a Senior Entomologist Technician for Plant Health and Environment Laboratory (PHEL) of the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI). You can follow her on Twitter @ecologyeloise
Jessica Chen finished her Master’s thesis (Zoology) in 2020 on the invertebrate biodiversity of the Orokonui Ecosanctuary, in particular the functional and endemic biodiversity of soil invertebrates. Jessica has a love for all living creatures, even the creepy ones!
Jessica is an amazing artist (she designed our lab logo!) and currently works as an entomological research assistant for DoC.
Jake Tully finished his Master’s thesis (Zoology) in 2020 on flower constancy in bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) in a semi-natural environment, and to determine whether/how this behaviour may have been important in the sympatric speciation of plants.
Rachel Terlinden finished her Master’s thesis (Zoology) in 2019 on bumble bee diurnal foraging patterns, and whether they remain consistent for individual bees over time, with a particular interest in how individual characteristics can influence this, such as body size.
Georgia McCombe graduated with her Bachelor’s in 2017, and worked as a research assistant on bumble bees in 2018.
