As a girl growing up in the urban jungle in Hong Kong, the vast open plain and millions of migrating wildebeests of Masai Mara felt unreachable yet incredibly enchanting to me. Thankfully, I had the opportunity to set my first step in Africa through a Kenya-Tanzania field trip during my undergraduate study in ecology. The memory of seeing eye-to-eye with the first cheetah in my life is still vivid and unforgettable. 

My passion for Africa had eventually developed into eight years of PhD and postdoctoral study in South Africa, focusing on the behaviour of reintroduced lions and their interactions with large herbivorous prey under the theory of The Landscape of Fear. I have also supervised postgraduate students who studied the post-release behaviour of reintroduced cheetahs and African buffalos, and the fleeing behaviour of impala. 

I visited New Zealand for a conference during my PhD study and travelled in the country for a month. The uniqueness and endemism of the island are so fascinating and impossible to forget, I decided to relocate to New Zealand after my South African journey, hoping to learn more about the environment and settle permanently.

I undertook an MSc study in biosecurity and conservation during COVID, so I could retrain and upskill in New Zealand ecosystems. The biggest difference in conservation between South Africa and New Zealand is that, all mammals on the island are invasive and must be controlled and eradicated. My study focused on understanding detectability of Pacific rats, their lure preferences and distinguishing their footprints from other rat species. I finished my study in mid-2022 and I am now employed as a researcher at Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, involving in a range of studies including the development of a non-lethal management tool for cats and the behaviour of feral cats on Rakiura!