We are proud to present the following keynote speakers at our conference.
Sophie Arnaud-Haond, University of Montpellier, France
Sophie Arnaud-Haond is a researcher at Ifremer, in Marbec lab (Marine Biodiversity, Exploitation and Conservation) in Montpellier-Sรจte. Her research focus on the evolutionary ecology of marine populations. Her work focuses on the patterns of connectivity across space and time -through population genomics studies- for the management and conservation of species and ecosystems, and on biodiversity assessments of hidden biodiversity (microbial communities, or remote communities in the deep ocean) htrough eDNA analysis, to allow community ecology analysis as well as biogeography and phylogeography reconstructions.
Kristine Bohmann, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Kristine Bohmann is associate professor at Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen where she leads the Environmental DNA Group. Kristine and her teamโs work focusses on eDNA and the use of metabarcoding and high-throughput sequencing to assess biodiversity. Their work spans technical studies, establishment of a national DNA reference database, eDNA time-series, diet and iDNA studies, and exploration of novel eDNA sample types. The latter includes their recent demonstration of airborne eDNA for vertebrate detection. Kristine is a PI on the ERC Synergy project SeaChange, which assesses the impact of major cultural transitions on marine ecosystem functioning and biodiversity. In addition, she recently established a Carlsberg Foundation research group dedicated to bring airborne eDNA for vertebrate monitoring into the wild.
Gentile Francesco Ficetola, University of Milan, Italy
Gentile Francesco Ficetola is professor of zoology at the University of Milan (Italy). His research focuses on the determinants of biodiversity patterns, and on the long-term effects of human activities at multiple scales, from micro-habitat to global. Since 2018 he coordinates the ERC grant IceCommunities, which exploits the power of environmental DNA to reconstruct community dynamics and ecosystem functioning after the retreat of glaciers. He published >250 papers on these topics in peer-reviewed journals.
Tomas Roslin, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
Tomas Roslin is professor of insect ecology at SLU. In his research, he focuses on networks of biotic interactions, spanning from traditional food webs to networks of mutualistic interactions, and to networks spanning multiple types of interactions. He is particularly interested in how communities emerge from first principles: how (meta)populations of multiple species interact, and how species-specific characteristics blend with interspecific interactions in shaping what species occur where and at what abundances. He is also interested in the relationship between the structure and functioning of such interaction webs; how the strength of different interactions reflect into ecological process of which we all benefit, like the decomposition of dung or the pollination of key plants. To compile relevant data across multiple spatial scales, Tomas is a keen practitioner of crowdsourced projects, including distributed experiments. In this context, he serves as one of three PIs on the ERC Synergy project LIFEPLAN, which samples species communities around the globe โ aiming to combine the use of DNA, image and audio with novel statistical methods for making sense of biodiversity.