King's Fellow Mark Bastian discusses the early impact of the King's Commonwealth Fellowship Programme in this case study.
Mark Bastian
Mark Bastian began his PhD in Biodiversity at the University of Guyana in 2025
In Guyana, small-scale gold mining can damage waterways and forests, placing additional pressure on frogs and other amphibians. With support from the King’s Commonwealth Fellowship Programme (KCFP), Mark Bastian is studying whether mining makes frogs more vulnerable to chytridiomycosis, a fungal disease that has caused amphibian declines worldwide. Although his PhD is at an early stage, the Fellowship is already giving him access to specialist guidance, laboratory methods and international research contacts while he remains employed at the University of Guyana. He is beginning to apply this experience in his teaching, student supervision and biodiversity work.
The challenge
Frogs are highly sensitive to changes in water quality, temperature and habitat. Because they absorb water and other substances through their skin and depend on both land and water during their life cycle, they can provide an early warning that an ecosystem is under pressure. Environmental damage can disrupt their breeding, reduce their numbers and, in severe cases, cause widespread deaths.
This is particularly important in Guyana, where gold mining can clear forests, divide habitats and pollute or alter waterways. Mark’s PhD examines whether these changes help a harmful fungus to survive and spread among frogs, and how this affects their health and survival. If the research identifies clear relationships, its findings could help improve how Guyana monitors wildlife, protects vulnerable habitats and manages mining-affected environments.
Amphibians are very sensitive to environmental change. That makes them a crucial component of biodiversity monitoring and key bioindicators of environmental health.
The Fellow
Mark is a Lecturer in the Department of Biology and Curator at the Centre for the Study of Biological Diversity (CSBD) at the University of Guyana. The CSBD holds Guyana’s national collections of plant and animal specimens and works with partner organisations on biodiversity research, monitoring and conservation. Mark specialises in frogs and other amphibians, including how they respond to disease and environmental change.
Since the Fellowship began, Mark has been promoted from Assistant Curator to Curator and now manages the CSBD’s collection of amphibian and reptile specimens. He also teaches molecular biology and genetics, supervises undergraduate research and works in the University of Guyana’s newly established molecular biology and genetics laboratory. This allows knowledge gained through the PhD to be shared directly with students and colleagues.
What the Fellowship is making possible
Mark began his PhD with KCFP support in September 2025. During his first year, he completed chapters reviewing existing research and setting out his proposed methods. In his second year, he is preparing the full research proposal, which he expects to defend in November 2026. The research is still at an early stage, but the Fellowship is already expanding his access to collaborators, specialist techniques and laboratory facilities.
Without KCFP support, Mark believes that a PhD undertaken entirely in Guyana would have been constrained by limited access to specialist data, laboratory equipment and international research networks. The Fellowship connects the University of Guyana with Western University in Canada, where Professor Bryan Neff provides additional supervision. His expertise in genetics, ecology and freshwater environments has helped Mark strengthen the part of the project that will test samples for the chytrid fungus and measure levels of infection.
Two research visits to Western University are planned after Mark completes fieldwork in the wet and dry seasons. The visits will give him access to laboratories able to process a larger number of samples, allow him to work with Professor Neff in person and create opportunities to meet other researchers. Mark has also made an initial contact with a Canadian frog and reptile specialist, although he is careful not to describe this as a lasting collaboration before they have met and agreed specific work.
The KCFP has served as a platform for connection, networking and opportunity. It allows us to undertake broader and more impactful research in Guyana.
New skills reaching students and colleagues
Mark has already gained practical experience through Bio-Track Amazonia, a research network linking Brazil, Peru, Guyana, Colombia and French Guiana. The network uses environmental DNA, traces of genetic material found in water, soil or air, to identify species and monitor ecosystems without needing to capture animals. Through this work, Mark has learned how to collect and prepare environmental samples and test them for DNA. His PhD will build on these skills by using a more precise test to measure how much of the chytrid fungus is present in samples taken from frogs.
Benefits for the University of Guyana are beginning to emerge. Mark now teaches courses related to molecular biology and biotechnology and advises undergraduate students using genetics in their research. He is also one of the researchers assigned to the university’s molecular biology and genetics laboratory. The laboratory cannot yet process the large number of samples expected from his PhD, but the partnership with Western University combines growing expertise in Guyana with access to higher-capacity equipment in Canada.
A wider research platform for Guyana
Becoming a King’s Fellow has also raised Mark’s profile. Researchers from the Caribbean and Brazil have approached him about possible work in Guyana, including research on lizard populations. He sees these contacts as an opportunity to expand research on frogs, reptiles and related species in Guyana and to strengthen the CSBD’s role in regional biodiversity research.
Mark’s longer-term goal is for the research to inform conservation work and national priorities, including Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy 2030. Potential users include the Environmental Protection Agency, the Guyana Wildlife Conservation and Management Commission, conservation organisations and communities in the study areas. Mark considers community participation essential because local people know these environments and depend on them for their livelihoods. The University of Guyana and the CSBD could support this process by providing evidence, maintaining national collections and advising government and conservation partners.
Alongside his PhD, Mark is investigating a poison dart frog found in a mining region that may be new to science. This work is separate from the Fellowship research, but it shows how the methods, facilities and partnerships developed through the PhD could support wider biodiversity research in Guyana.
The KCFP model in action
Mark remains employed at the University of Guyana while completing his PhD part-time, with supervision from both the University of Guyana and Western University. This keeps the research rooted in Guyana while giving him access to specialist guidance, laboratories and international networks. It also allows him to continue teaching, managing national specimen collections and supervising students. The main challenge is time: balancing employment, doctoral study, Fellowship activities and family responsibilities requires careful planning. Mark nevertheless considers continued employment essential, both professionally and financially.
‘It helps to position everything within a workable schedule. I am able to focus on my job and also have time to work on my PhD.’
The Commonwealth dimension
During Commonwealth Week in London in March 2026, Mark met other King’s Fellows and took part in discussions on climate change, conservation and the challenges facing their countries. He also briefly met His Majesty King Charles III. Mark describes the week as changing his view of the Commonwealth: rather than seeing international environmental discussions primarily through a financial lens, he encountered a network committed to conservation, the sustainable use of natural resources and collaboration across countries.
The immediate value of his visit to London was the opportunity to hear how other countries are responding to climate and conservation challenges, and to explain Guyana’s biodiversity priorities to researchers, programme partners and decision-makers.
I see a large group trying to make the world a better place and do right by our environment. With the Commonwealth, I see sustainable use and a real commitment to conservation.
Looking ahead
In the next phase, Mark must secure approval for his proposal before completing fieldwork in the wet and dry seasons, analysing the samples and undertaking his planned visits to Western University.
Although he is still early in his Fellowship journey, a clear direction is emerging: Mark is building expertise in frog disease and modern biodiversity monitoring while remaining based in Guyana, sharing his knowledge through teaching and student supervision, and using a Commonwealth partnership to connect national research needs with specialist expertise and facilities abroad.
For Mark, the Fellowship’s value lies in combining local continuity with international access. By remaining at the University of Guyana, he can continue teaching future biologists and caring for the country’s national biodiversity collections while developing the skills, relationships and research profile to strengthen conservation in Guyana and the wider region.