The Group
2025 -present Senior Lecturer in Biosciences, Department of Biosciences, Swansea University
2022 - 2025 Lecturer in Biosciences, Department of Biosciences, Swansea University
2021 - 2024 BBSRC Discovery Fellow (John Innes Centre/Swansea University)
2019 - 2020 Postdoctoral Researcher - John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK (with Prof. Barrie Wilkinson)
2017 - 2019 Postdoctoral Researcher - University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI, USA (with Prof. Nancy P. Keller)
2013 - 2017 Ph.D. in Biological and Organic Chemistry - University of Bristol, UK (with Prof. Chris L. Willis and Prof. Russell J. Cox)
2009 - 2013 M.Chem (Hons) in Chemistry with Industrial Experience - University of Manchester, UK
Hometown: Rome, Italy
Postdocs
Dr Babalwa Tembeni
Research Assistant - Chemical Biologist (Since Jun 2025)
With Dr Eva Sonnenschein & UKRI GEC - Natural Products BioHub
Making use of multi-omics approaches and in silico studies in identifying and isolating bioactive compounds from fungi and algae. One of the projects focuses on the interactions between insect odour-binding proteins and their chemical structures for the development of an insecticide.
2023-2024 Postdoctoral Researcher - UM6P, African Genome Center, Morocco (with Professor Joshua Olatunji)
2017 – 2023 PhD in Chemistry - University of Pretoria, RSA (with Professor Vinesh Maharaj)​
Hometown: East London, Republic of South Africa
PhDs
Shumukh Alharthi
Ph.D. Student (Since Jan 2023)
I am investigating fungi’s natural products using chemical and synthetic microbiological approaches with the main goal focusing on the discovery of new bioactive compounds. My project is funded by Taif University.
2021 – 2022 M.Sc. in Natural Product Drug Discovery (Pharmacy), University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK
2013 – 2019 B.Sc. in PharmD. (Pharmacy), Taif University, Taif, Saudi Arabia
Hometown: Taif, Saudi Arabia
Email: 2255966@swansea.ac.uk
Hongli Wang
Ph.D. Student (Since July 2024)
Primary supervisor Dr Eva Sonnenschein
My PhD research topic is "Exploring the Impact of Microbial Communities on the Cultivation of Microalgae". This study aims to explore the complex interactions between these microorganisms and their potential applications in areas such as environmental protection and sustainable energy production. My project is funded by Swansea University and the Chinese Scholarship Council.
2019 – 2022 Master of Engineering in Bioengineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
2013 – 2017 B.Sc. in Bioinformatics, Hunan Agricultural University, China​
Hometown: Henan, China
Email: 2337505@swansea.ac.uk
Eve Gwynedd
Ph.D. Student (Since Oct. 2024)
Primary supervisor Dr Tamsyn Uren Webster
Functional Microbiomes: Unravelling Diet, Environment and Host Pathogen Interactions​
Email: 2410650@swansea.ac.uk
MRes Biosciences
Philip Ellwood
MRes. Student (Since Sept. 2024)
Primary supervisor Dr Eva Sonnenschein ​
Unravelling the Seagrass Microbiome
Email: 2428969@swansea.ac.uk
Year In Research Student
Maya Macay
Year in Research Student (Since August 2025)
​I’m currently an undergraduate student undertaking a Year in Research with Dr Greco, where we are investigating the secondary metabolites within fungal endophytes of common plants such as Centaurea nigra (the common knapweed) to help combat the antibiotic resistance problem.
Email: m.r.macay@swansea.ac.uk
Project Students (3rd Year)
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Kurtis Bowen (2025/26)
Eloise Gray (2025/26)
Damaris Hayford (2025/26)
Arjun Saggar (2025/26)
Yasmin Swinburn (2025/26)
Erin-Shan Valerio (2025/26)