The Sumner Lab

Insect Research Group, University College London

Iona Cunningham-Eurich


Position: PhD Student

Project:  Diversity, distributions and ecology of parasitoid wasps.


Research Interests: 

  • I am interested in finding better ways to monitor understudied insects such as parasitoid wasps, which comprise vital components of ecosystems, yet remain vastly understudied. My PhD has focused on collecting and mapping parasitoid wasps in the UK, with the help of moth enthusiasts.
  • Additionally, I am working on understanding the evolution of generalism and specialism in parasitoid wasps, as well as the evolution of host range (i.e. parasitoid prey) and how this impacts speciation.

Previously, I completed my MSci at UCL under the supervision of Seirian Sumner and Jinliang Wang (ZSL), looking at the population genetic structure of the Common Yellowjacket, Vespula vulgaris, using citizen science samples from the Big Wasp Survey collected from across the UK.


Background: 

March 2025 – May 2025 – POST Fellow (Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology) researching and writing a POSTnote on Regenerative Agriculture

Dec 2024 – Feb 2025 – Research Assistant on UKRI Innovate UK project on crop pest biocontrol using natural enemies at University College London

2021 – Present: PhD Candidate, Natural History Museum & University College London, London NERC DTP Cohort 8

2016 – 2020: MSci Zoology, University College London


Contact:

E-mail: iona.cunningham-eurich.16@ucl.ac.uk / iona.cunningham-eurich@nhm.ac.uk

Instagram: @ionacunninghameurich

LinkedIn: @ionacunninghameurich


Publications:

  • Cunningham-Eurich, I., Wentworth, J. (2025) POSTnote: Regenerative Agriculture, UK Parliament POST. doi.org/10.58248/PN748
  • Broad, G., Cunningham-Eurich, I. (2024) The genome sequence of a braconid wasp, Aleiodes testaceus (Telenga, 1941). Wellcome Open Research, 9, 408. 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.22738.1
  • Hasenjager, M. J., Hoppitt, W., Cunningham-Eurich, I., Franks, V. R., & Leadbeater, E. (2024). Coupled information networks drive honeybee (Apis mellifera) collective foraging. Journal of Animal Ecology, 93, 71–82. doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.14029
  • Cunningham-Eurich, I., Kontou, D., Yordanova, M., Maeda-Obregon, A., Favreau, E., Wang, J. et al. (2023) Using citizen science data to assess the population genetic structure of the common yellowjacket wasp, Vespula vulgaris. Insect Molecular Biology, 32(6), 634–647.  doi.org/10.1111/imb.12862