Your title, name, place of work (Bonn or Hamburg)
Dr. Ameli Kirse, Bonn

What is your current position/function at our institute?
Postdoc, zbm (Centre for Biodiversity Monitoring and Conservation Science)

Keywords:
metabarcoding, biodiversity monitoring, method development

Can you please describe your research in general terms?
My main interest focuses on the application and development of metabarcoding approaches for the assessment of biodiversity patterns. Metabarcoding can be a powerful tool for assessing underlying causes and consequences of the currently ongoing event of biodiversity loss. I’m psyched to contribute to the development of metabarcoding to exploit its full potential.

In which countries did you work and/or perform(ed) your research projects?
Europe

For further information and/or social media please click here:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ameli-Kirse;
https://bonn.leibniz-lib.de/en/zfmk/ameli-kirse

Do you have a recommendation for young scientists in your field of study and for their career?
I highly recommend students to take as many practical courses in various research groups as possible to really figure out which research questions are the most important to them, so that they are more than happy to spend long hours in the lab, field and on the desk answering those questions.

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Your title, name, place of work (Bonn or Hamburg)
Dr. Astrid Böhne, Bonn

What is your current position/function at our institute?
Head of Section Comparative Vertebrate Genomics, zmb (Centre for Molecular Biodiversity Research)

Keywords
genome evolution, transcriptomics, vertebrates

Can you please describe your research in general terms?
I am a molecular evolutionary biologist fascinated by the phenotypic diversity on our planet. I combine sequencing approaches with bioinformatics to disentangle how genomes and their evolution contribute to observable phenotypic differences.
My research comprises molecular biology, comparative genomics and transcriptome evolution driven by my motivation to search for genomic patterns contributing to biodiversity.

I am particularly fascinated by the genomics that underlie the differences between the sexes within a species and thus study the evolution of sex chromosomes and sex-specific gene expression.

In which countries did you work and/or perform(ed) your research projects?
Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland, USA, Norway, Zambia, Indonesia

For further information and/or social media please click here:
https://bonn.leibniz-lib.de/de/zfmk/astrid-boehne
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Astrid-Boehne
@astrid_boehne

Do you have any recommendations for young female scientists in your field?
For a career in science, you have to be open to always being prepared for the unpredictable. Personally, I especially like the exchange with people from all over the world at all career stages – that has enriched my life in science immensely.

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Your title, name, place of work (Bonn or Hamburg)
Dr. Dagmara Żyła, Hamburg

What is your current position/function at our institute?
Head of Section Coleoptera, ztm (Centre for Taxonomy and Morphology)

Keywords:
Coleoptera, macroevolution, phylogenetics

Can you please describe your research in general terms?
My research focuses on taxonomy, systematics, and the natural history of the largest family of animals, rove beetles (Staphylinidae). In my studies, I aim to combine traditional taxonomy and systematics with modern analytical approaches to understand the evolutionary processes underlying their past and present biodiversity and distribution. I am working on the taxonomy of mega-diverse and poorly known genera and their systematics via the total-evidence phylogenetic approach in order to convert them into a better-understood group for macroevolutionary and macroecological studies.

In which countries did you work and/or perform(ed) your research projects?
Denmark, Poland, USA, Italy, Peru

For further information and/or social media please click here (please, include here links to your webpage, ResearchGate, Instagram, Twitter, etc.):
https://sites.google.com/view/zyladagmara/
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dagmara-Zyla
@Dagmara_Zyla

Do you have a recommendation for young scientists in your field of study and for their career?
Find what makes you happy and enjoy your work. Always stay curious and explore. Don’t let others convince you that your goals are unattainable; remember that “the sky’s the limit”.

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Your title, name, place of work (Bonn or Hamburg)
MSc, Dora Hlebec, Hamburg

What is your current position/function at our institute?
PhD Student, ztm (Centre for Taxonomy and Morphology)

Keywords:
pseudoscorpions, Dinaric Karst, cave fauna

Can you please describe your research in general terms?
I am a PhD student working on the project, DNA barcoding of Croatian Faunal Biodiversity. As part of this project, I am working on two poorly studied invertebrate groups: stoneflies and pseudoscorpions, documenting species diversity using genetic and morphological data and studying their evolution. My research is mostly conducted in the Croatian Dinaric Karst, one of the world’s largest biodiversity hotspots, which has unique habitats that do not exist anywhere else in the world. Besides research, I am also a member of the State Commission for the Biology Competition in Croatia and Croatian Biospeleological Society. In collaboration with the Croatian Biospeleological Society, I am an active participant in six projects, which inventory the cave fauna of the country, and most of my work with this involves identifying species of pseudoscorpions.

In which countries did you work and/or perform(ed) your research projects?
Croatia, Germany

For further information and/or social media please click here (please, include here links to your webpage, ResearchGate, Instagram, Twitter, etc.):
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dora-Hlebec
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=WpaP6ZcAAAAJ&hl=hr

Do you have a recommendation for young scientists in your field of study and for their career?
Never give up! There will be days when we only think about giving up, but still, in the end, every hard day passes quickly. And behind such a day comes sun, so say the wiser. Use every day to learn something new, and be happy at the end of the day because of that.

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Your title, name, place of work (Bonn or Hamburg)
M.Sc. Cristina Garilao, Hamburg

What is your current position/function at our institute?
Co-head of the Biodiversity Informatics Section, ztm (Centre for Taxonomy and Morphology)

Keywords:
Biodiversity, data and databases

Can you please describe your research in general terms?
My main interest is working with data and databases and finding new ways to provide biological information that will allow other researchers to answer a variety of questions. Prior to joining the LIB in November 2021, I maintained a large dataset that made global, large-scale predictions of the natural occurrence of marine species. This dataset helped answer questions in the fields of biodiversity, conservation, genetics and policy.

In which countries did you work and/or perform(ed) your research projects?
Philippines, Germany

For further information and/or social media please click here (please, include here links to your webpage, ResearchGate, Instagram, Twitter, etc.):
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Cristina-Garilao

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Your title, name, place of work (Bonn or Hamburg)
Dipl.-Biologin Birgit Klasen, Bonn

What is your current position/function at our institute?
Research Assistant in Project NF4 Biodiversity – Biodiversity, Ecology and Environmental Data, ztm (Centre for Taxonomy and Morphology)

Keywords
Scientific data, biodiversity, bioinformatics

Can you please describe your research in general terms?
Scientific data are valuable resources and I am committed to ensuring that they are sustainably available to all people. This includes collecting, archiving and publishing the data as well as building national and international networks and structures to make this possible. We want to make all scientific data available to everyone according to the so-called FAIR principles (FAIR stands for findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable).

In which countries did you work and/or perform(ed) your research projects?
Europe (and in the World Wide Web).

For further information and/or social media please click here (please, include here links to your webpage, ResearchGate, Instagram, Twitter, etc.):
https://bonn.leibniz-lib.de/en/zfmk/birgit-klasen

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