In April 2025, I started a position as post-doctoral researcher in population genomics at the University of Nottingham within the MacColl lab group. I am investigating the genomic differentiation between two ecotypes of Three spined stickleback (*Gasterosteus aculeatus*). These two ecotypes breed sympatrically within lagoons and lochs around the island. Resident fish live within the lagoons all year round and are much smaller and less armoured than the anadromous ecotype. The anadromous ecotype breed in the lagoons over spring/summer but return to the sea in the winter. What are the evolutionary origins of the population pairs of these two ecotypes and what are the underlying genomic differences between them. On Uist, in contrast to other populations of stickleback, the adaptation to salt water is not confounded by the behaviour/adaptation of migration because the lagoons have influxes of salt water through the tides. I'm lucky enough to hit the ground running with 4TB of already sequenced data from sticklebacks across North Uist and further a field. ![[Male Stikleback in tub_crop.jpg]]