Dr Caitlyn Forster

Imagine getting to spend your time doing craft and sitting outside watching flowers. That is the job a of behavioural ecologist, Caitlyn Forster. Caitlyn completed her PhD studying how flowers without nectar impacted foraging choice in bees. Her research has involved looking at bee behaviour in Australia and Canada, by using artificial flowers (which is a fancy term for flowers that have been made out of colourful paper).

Caitlyn is the first person in her family to have completed an undergraduate degree. Before her PhD, Caitlyn completed her Bachelor of Science (Zoology) degree at Western Sydney University in 2015, before moving on to study ants in her Master of Philosophy degree at The University of Sydney.

Nowadays, Caitlyn gets to do a lot of interesting science. Some days she works as a research assistant investigating the foraging choice of bees. On other days she teaches undergraduate biology. She also is involved in a project that aims to get young people from Western Sydney outside enjoying nature, whilst contributing to a range of citizen science projects.