The amoeba Neoparamoeba perurans is the causative agent of Amoebic Gill Disease (AGD), one of the most significant health challenges faced by the global marine salmonid aquaculture industry. Treatments for AGD enable salmon producers to improve salmon welfare and reduce mortality, but the disease often returns in the same production cycle to the same fish. Although we are starting to understand more about N. perurans and its interaction with the host, there remains little known about the phylogeographic history and population genetics in relation to its distribution, abundance and evolutionary process that influence its epidemiology. As an important global pathogen, it is important to start understanding its transmission routes and molecular variation. Different variants of the parasite have been suggested to have emerged globally but there have been few studies that have attempted to identify the total number of variants, found within a particular locality nor have there been any attempts to assess the potential movement of such variants within and between farms. This PhD will use elements of both classic epidemiology and molecular epidemiology to assess movement and connectivity between fish farms and provide essential insights into transmission. The project will utilise both archived and contemporary samples to provide insights into the molecular population genetic structure of N. perurans in Scotland. Similarly, phylodynamic analyses will be employed to assess movement between infected sites. To achieve this, we will employ already established nuclear and mitochondrial molecular markers and will also attempt to develop new markers to assess fine scale evolutionary processes which could affect the transmission and epidemiology of the parasite. Within Scotland's salmon aquaculture, field samples will form a basis for answering epidemiological questions, such as what the prevalence of AGD is, and can we quantify and explain infection pressure. Open-source data such as environmental variables obtained from satellite data will be used to complement existing data for meta-analysis. An overall understanding of the molecular epidemiology of N. perurans will enable us to provide better recommendations for health management of AGD. Successful candidates will have the opportunity to work within internationally recognised teams at Epidemiological Research Unit of Scotland's Rural College (SRUC) and Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling and to receive training in cutting-edge epidemiological analysis, molecular biology, and parasitological techniques.

Consumer involvement will form an integral part of the research process. It is proposed that an advisory panel that includes young people will be set up at an early stage to review the progress of the research and discuss issues that arise. The views of the advisory panel will also have a key role to play in informing the development of subsequent policy interventions and social marketing strategies. The results and implications of each stage of the study will be disseminated to the wider public through the development of a dedicated section on the ISM web site and will be responsive to consumer feedback.

Making a difference: Understanding the experience and outcomes of participation in dementia-friendly community initiatives

Finding ways to grow enough food to sustain the ever-growing human population while minimising detrimental impacts on the natural environment is a pressing global challenge [1,2]. Current food production systems rely heavily on the use of agro-chemicals for pest control, the negative impacts of which are extreme for species, ecosystems and for climate change [3-7]. Integrated pest management (IPM) is one strategy that will be critical if we are to feed the human population without inflicting irreversible environmental damage. IPM prioritizes biodiversity-based pest control and considers the use of chemical pesticides only as a last resort [8]. Parasitoid wasps are a large group of insects, which are commonly used as a chemical-free means of controlling insect pests (biological control). Adults are free-living, females lay their eggs on or in other species and their offspring feed on this host, typically another insect, invariably killing it. In addition to their economic value, parasitoid wasps have long been used by blue skies researchers to understand fundamental questions about evolution, ecology and physiology [9,10]. This research has supported their use in crop protection and assisted biocontrol practitioners in selecting the most appropriate species to control a given pest [9,10]. Despite the abundance of studies on parasitoid behavioural ecology, these species have received little attention in studies of sexual selection and sexual conflict [11]. Sexual conflict occurs when the optimum strategy or trait is different for males and females [12]. For instance, the optimal mating rate is generally higher for males than females. This can result in reduced fitness for females if accepting or resisting superfluous male copulation attempts is costly [12, 13]. If these costs manifest as reduced offspring production, there can be consequences for recruitment and even population viability [13] For parasitoid wasps in natural and agricultural settings, sexual conflict may have profound consequences for parasitism rates. Understanding the extent to which sexual conflict influences individual and population fitness in these insects provides new and valuable information on how aspects of these species' mating systems can influence host-parasitoid dynamics and coevolution as well as the efficacy of pest control under different IPM scenarios.

This research project will uncover the significance of libraries in establishing and/or disrupting senses of class identity in an increasingly industrialised society. It analyses the socio-economic conditions that determined how libraries were managed and accessed in Scotland between 1800 and 1842. I am part of an existing research team, AHRC-funded 'Books and Borrowing 1750-1830' (Books and Borrowing, no date, borrowing.stir.ac.uk), which is transcribing borrowing records from eighteen Scottish libraries into a Content Management System, to be launched publicly as an open access database in April 2023. By exploring library archive materials and tracing the individuals represented in the borrowing records from eight libraries around Scotland, I will create a substantial dataset from which I will conduct an analysis of the interrelationship between libraries and class identity in early nineteenth-century Scotland. My research will be conducted on the following eight libraries: Chambers Circulating Library, Edinburgh John Gray Library, Haddington, East Lothian The Leighton Library, Dunblane The Library of Innerpeffray, Perthshire Orkney Library, Orkney Selkirk Subscription Library, Selkirk Westerkirk Parish Library, Dumfries and Galloway Wigtown Subscription Library, Wigtown These libraries have been chosen to represent, firstly, a wide geographic range, facilitating a comparison of library use between the far North and far South of Scotland, as well as between urban and rural areas, and, secondly, to represent a wide demographic range, with members of the labouring classes as well as the gentry and professional classes represented in their borrowing records.