Biography
My journey began with a Zoology BSc (Hons) degree at University College London. I stayed on at UCL for my PhD in the reproductive conflicts of primitively eusocial hover wasps, under the supervision of Prof Jeremy Field (now at University of Sussex). I went on to a postdoc position in University of Copenhagen with Prof Koos Boomsma, on social parasitism in leaf cutting ants.
Thereafter, I held a succession of independent fellowships funded by Smithsonian Institute (STRI, Panama), L’Oreal for Women in Science Fellowship Award from L’OrealUNSECO/Royal Society, RCUK, and the Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London.
I took a Senior Lecturership in the School of Biological Sciences in the University of Bristol in November 2012, and moved to University College London in October 2016 as a Reader in Behavioural Ecology, where I am currently based. I became a full Professor in October 2020.
Email: s[dot]sumner@ucl[dot]ac[dot]uk
Twitter: @waspwoman
Address: Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT