Postgraduate Entomology student discusses life at Harper Adams

Posted 26 February 2013

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The location of Harper Adams University in the rural Shropshire countryside could not be more suited to the scientific study of insects, according to postgraduate student Eneree Gundalai.

The 21-year-old, who was born to Mongolian parents in Germany before moving to England more than 10 years ago, is currently studying an MSc in Entomology, focusing mainly on crop pests, at the university.

With Harper Adams being the UK’s only provider of postgraduate courses in Entomology and related areas, Eneree knew exactly where he was heading after completing his undergraduate degree in Biology at Imperial College London.

“I studied my Bachelors at Imperial College London in Biology and that was a really good experience and showed me that I really enjoyed the ecological side of things,” he said.

“In my pursuit of something more ecology-like I decided to get into entomology and study the processes of life through the most common animals that exist on our planet – the insects.

“Entomology was previously only available at Imperial College but then it moved to Harper Adams and I think it is for the better because at Harper Adams the focus of entomology is more on crop pests and diseases and the facilities here for ecology are much greater than they were at Imperial.

“So in one way I didn’t have much of a choice because it was the only place to go, but it has gotten better than it was before.

“We learn about the basics of insects, the diversity, the evolution, the taxonomy, and we also learn about their allies.

“Then it goes more into detail. From building us into basic entomologists, you get to choose different modules which are either crop based or more horticultural, like the management of pests in protected crops using biological controls or you can go down different routes like conservation or sustainable agriculture.”

Eneree was also quick to praise the facilities and opportunities for postgraduate students at the university.

“Changing from London to a countryside environment has been quite interesting because I have never really seen so much space before other than on holiday. It was very nice to breathe some fresh air,” he added.

“One thing that is good for entomologists studying here is that there are a lot of connections that lead to crop protection or other institutions.

“The postgraduate support here is really quite good. The postgraduate centre has very good computers and very good facilities.

“When I was studying in London I was at Imperial College which is a much bigger university and has many more students. The one big difference between Imperial and Harper Adams is the student support. Here the staff have great capability to be supportive as there are less students.”

Eneree said once he had graduated he would like to work in the crop protection industry, but was also open to undertaking a PhD in the future.