In 2016, Kirsty completed her PhD thesis at Cardiff University within the School of Dentistry. Kirsty joined Professor Walsh’s team in the BARNARDS project at Cardiff in June 2016. Her role in BARNARDS was primarily focused on establishing a genomics laboratory within Professor Walsh’s group. This has enabled the performance of whole-genome sequencing of sepsis-causing bacteria using both short and long read sequencing platforms, which was fundamental to the project. Kirsty has been researching mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) for the past eight years. In her current role as the Scientific Lead in IOI’s multi-disciplinary global surveillance of AMR programme, she uses large microbial genomics data generation to gain insights on AMR mechanisms and spread in the hospital ecosystem and the wider environment.