My name is Dessy and I was born in Bulgaria but grew up in Japan. I completed my bachelor’s degree in Bioarchaeology, in York and master’s in bioinformatics and Systems Biology from University of Manchester.

My PhD topic focuses on looking at the dynamics of Campylobacter and antimicrobial resistance in the food supply chain. I am funded by the BBSRC DTP program with an industrial partner - the Food Standards Agency. I hope to combine disciplines of bioinformatics, mathematical modeling and experimental microbiology onto the topic. I am also intrigued to see how campylobacter affects gut microbiome as well.

I am also one of the coordinators for the Chicken Journal Club

Chicken Journal Club

We are a multinational and multidisciplinary group from more than 10 countries across all six continents composed of over a hundred and thirty graduate-level early career researchers (ECRs), and global leaders in their field. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic we created an international online community that gathers international researchers to discuss their work across various disciplines on a termly basis via Zoom Cloud Meetings. From communications with the speaker, we present members with pre-reading material  prior to the session so participants can familiarise themselves with the background information and further ask questions to the author of the paper. This is an opportunity to bring together diverse viewpoints and generate novel ideas despite the distance and unprecedented circumstances.

Social media has been a major keystone to building our community, with our Twitter account as the main protagonist from the inception of the CJC, helping communicate updates, events and research outputs from members. Recognising the challenges of globalisation, with the many international time zone differences, our Youtube channel serves as a repository of most recorded sessions; and our Slack Workspace promotes open forum-like discussions and opportunities to share digital resources among our members.