Graduating at the top of her class with a first-class BSc Hons Biology degree from Ulster University, Dr Megan Taggart was accepted to a DfE funded studentship at Ulster University to complete her PhD entitled “Investigation of the factors regulating biofilm formation of antibiotic-resistant Clostridioides difficile using transcriptomics.” During her PhD (2019-2023), she was accepted as a Microbiology Society Champion, through which she secured funding for an outreach project for World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2021. She was also instrumental in establishing a collaboration with an international pharmaceutical company which funded an additional research project in C. difficile alongside her PhD project.

During the end stages of her PhD, she took up a post as a research associate in soil enzymology at Ulster University, working on the Soil Nutrient Health Scheme. During this time, she worked closely with Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI), presenting her work at quarterly progress meetings to policymakers from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DEARA). During this time, she was also invited to collaborate with the School of Geography and Environmental Science at Ulster University as a co-supervisor on a PhD project investigating the restoration of peatlands.

Currently hired to work on the prestigious US-Ireland grant developing bacterial-based biosensors has given her the opportunity to further develop the research from her PhD by collaborating with both the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and the Tyndall Institute, Cork. This project is an international multidisciplinary project led by Prof James Dooley.