Amira Aqilah Muhammad

Currently a graduate student at the leading university in Malaysia with an ongoing project on ants in urban parks, which is also the subject for my doctorate degree. Insects in general is my preferred niche of study but grasshoppers, crickets, its allies and ants are my favourite. During free times, you can find me wandering in nature hoping to come across adorable animals to play and photograph, or at the University of Malaya's Museum of Zoology sorting specimens with a cup of tea at hand.

Although my current study is more on urban and ants ecology, Orthoptera (grasshopper, crickets and its allies) is my "first love". Since my undergraduate years, I was and still work on this subject especially pygmy grasshoppers alongside amazing Orthopteran researchers from various institutes such as National University of Singapore and University of Zagreb, Croatia. I am lucky to get in touch with experts worldwide and learn a lot of valuable lessons from everyone in order to develop my skills. I still have a long way to go, and I am willing to do so given the right opportunity and guidance.

Since 2020, the pandemic is hard on everyone, especially researchers who need travelling for fieldworks and data collection. Our collection of data requires in-situ sampling and photographing, which is restrained during these tough times. Nevertheless, we are trying our best to carry out our tasks in search for novel knowledge and contribute to the scientific community. This project's expedition to Croatia's Adriatic islands will definitely give us new experience and insight into European Orthoptera which surely will benefit us a lot in terms of knowledge exchange and strengthen the collaboration between both of the countries' leading universities.

April 2021