Leo is a PhD candidate working on phylodynamic methods. After training in ecology, evolutionary biology, and mathematics (BSc Hons) & D-MATHSC), Leo worked as a research assistant in 2020 with Sebastian Duchene at the Doherty Institute. Here, he gained first-hand experience applying phylodynamic methods to emerging infectious disease threats and ancient DNA data (Y. pestis) across national and international collaborations. Each dataset imposed its own methodological challenges, inspiring the questions that Leo is tackling in his PhD. This work is conducted under the supervision of Dr Sebastian Duchene, Professor Ben Phillips (Curtin University), and Dr Tim Vaughan (ETH Zurich).