While extinctions are being recorded at a faster rate than ever before, our knowledge of the factors that allow some species to succeed and others to fail in a given environment remains extremely limited. I study the mechanisms and traits that enable rapid adaptation and the consequences for population viability in the wild. I currently have two research lines that require high performance computing. I am studying real-time evolution of two biocontrol agents in the South Pacific: Heliconius butterflies and Leptinotarsa beetles. I have whole-genome sequenced 140 individuals from both the founding and established biocontrol populations of butterflies (2016, 2019, 2021) and visited the island in 2022 to collect a fourth timepoint. We are now designing an experimental release of a new weed biocontrol agent, the sister species of the Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa undecimlineata). My collaborators will release replicated populations with either high or low levels of genetic variation across six islands in Vanuatu. I will then test for genomic parallel evolution and assess the likelihood of the biocontrol's establishment based on its initial genetic makeup. This innovative approach will provide valuable insights into how genetic diversity influences the establishment and adaptation of small populations in the wild. The other research project is on adaptation to climate change in a Californian butterfly. Climate and land-use change are forcing organisms to ‘move, adapt, or die’. However, to accurately predict species’ range expansions or adaptive potential, we need to understand the genetic basis of ecologically relevant phenotypes and how they affect fitness in new environmental conditions. Building on the experience from my PhD, my group will study the genetic basis of climate adaptations in amenable insect systems. I have started a collaboration with climate change expert, Prof. Camille Parmesan, butterfly ecologist Prof Mike Singer, and evolutionary geneticist Prof. Chris Wheat to work on the North American Edith's checkerspot butterfly (Euphydryas editha). Decades of ecological studies have revealed fascinating host plant use adaptations and, more recently, have detected eggs being consistently laid further from the hot ground, potentially as a response to climate change. I will combine observational studies, rearing experiments, whole-genome sequencing, and functional validations to study the genetic basis of these and newly identified adaptations, making use of a recently published chromosome-level assembly and key collaborators. I will then model fitness landscapes to infer how these traits and their genetic architecture might impact the potential for range expansions or local adaptation in a warmer planet.