I started out as a plant evolutionary geneticist, doing my PhD research on the the rare mating system 'androdioecy' in the annual weed Mercurialis annua (Euphorbiaceae). In 2004 I moved from Oxford to Edinburgh to take a PDRA position with Prof. Tom Little, working on patterns of molecular evolution in the immune genes of the malaria mosquito, Anopheles gambiae. During this time I developed a collaboration with Frank Jiggins (now Cambridge) looking at molecular evolution in Drosophila, and I was able to work on a particular interest of my own - the evolution of RNA-interference pathways. In 2008 I became independent through a Wellcome Trust Research Career Development Fellowship, working on virus discovery and diversity in Drosophila melanogaster, and from 2013 I held a five-year University funded 'Chancellor's Fellowship'. In 2017 my contract became open-ended, and after my fellowship I became a 'Reader'. I was promoted to Professor in 2022. My group's research now focuses on understanding the distribution and diversity of invertebrate viruses and the evolution of antiviral immunity in invertebrates, with a particular focus on the Drosophilidae as a model host community.