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I am an evolutionary biologist working at the Natural History Museum of Denmark (University of Copenhagen).
My current research interests focus on the origins and evolutionary history of the biodiversity in the polar regions, particularly plants and microbial groups. I am interested in addressing compelling biological questions rather than working on particular species. I have a practical and theoretical background in molecular biology, including laboratory and analytical techniques in population genetics, phylogenetics and biogeography. Contact info Natural History Museum of Denmark (University of Copenhagen): Elisabeth Machteld Biersma Natural History Museum of Denmark Øster Farimagsgade 5, Building 7, 1st, 7.1.34b DK-1353 Copenhagen Denmark Email: [email protected] |
Background:
Employment:
May 2023 - ongoing Postdoc/Assistant Professor, Natural History Museum of Denmark (SNM), University of Copenhagen (KU)
Named postdoc (co-I) from 20/05/2023 – 19/07/2024, which will be followed by two years as Assistant Professor. Project with Associated Prof. Natasha L. de Vere (PI) (Carlsberg Foundation Semper Ardens: Accelerate grant)
Greenland plant diversity patterns and pollination networks in a changing Arctic
Sep 2019 – May 2023 Carlsberg Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, Natural History Museum of Denmark (SNM), University of Copenhagen (KU)
The Evolutionary History of the Greenlandic Flora
Dec 2016 – Aug 2021 Postdoc, British Antarctic Survey (BAS)
Evolutionary history of Colobanthus quitensis (one of the two native vascular plants in Antarctica) and its associated root microbes in South America and Antarctica. (supervisors Dr. K. Newsham and Prof. P. Convey (BAS))
Education:
Oct 2012 – Nov 2016 Ph.D. University of Cambridge, British Antarctic Survey (BAS)
The Evolutionary History of the Antarctic Flora. Prof. H. Griffiths (U. of Cambridge), Prof. P. Convey, Dr. J.A. Jackson, Dr. K. Linse, (BAS)
Aug 2010 – Jun 2012 M.Sc. University in Bergen, University of Aarhus, University of Iceland and the University of the Faroe Islands
‘Joint Nordic Master’s Programme in Marine Ecosystems and Climate’
Thesis: The diversity and ecology of microbial mats on two Arctic deep-sea hydrothermal vents, making use of metagenomics and transcriptomics. (grade: A) Prof. I.H. Steen (U. of Bergen)
Sep 2007 – Jun 2010 B.Sc. University of Groningen, University of Uppsala
B.Sc. in Biology
May 2023 - ongoing Postdoc/Assistant Professor, Natural History Museum of Denmark (SNM), University of Copenhagen (KU)
Named postdoc (co-I) from 20/05/2023 – 19/07/2024, which will be followed by two years as Assistant Professor. Project with Associated Prof. Natasha L. de Vere (PI) (Carlsberg Foundation Semper Ardens: Accelerate grant)
Greenland plant diversity patterns and pollination networks in a changing Arctic
Sep 2019 – May 2023 Carlsberg Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, Natural History Museum of Denmark (SNM), University of Copenhagen (KU)
The Evolutionary History of the Greenlandic Flora
Dec 2016 – Aug 2021 Postdoc, British Antarctic Survey (BAS)
Evolutionary history of Colobanthus quitensis (one of the two native vascular plants in Antarctica) and its associated root microbes in South America and Antarctica. (supervisors Dr. K. Newsham and Prof. P. Convey (BAS))
Education:
Oct 2012 – Nov 2016 Ph.D. University of Cambridge, British Antarctic Survey (BAS)
The Evolutionary History of the Antarctic Flora. Prof. H. Griffiths (U. of Cambridge), Prof. P. Convey, Dr. J.A. Jackson, Dr. K. Linse, (BAS)
Aug 2010 – Jun 2012 M.Sc. University in Bergen, University of Aarhus, University of Iceland and the University of the Faroe Islands
‘Joint Nordic Master’s Programme in Marine Ecosystems and Climate’
Thesis: The diversity and ecology of microbial mats on two Arctic deep-sea hydrothermal vents, making use of metagenomics and transcriptomics. (grade: A) Prof. I.H. Steen (U. of Bergen)
Sep 2007 – Jun 2010 B.Sc. University of Groningen, University of Uppsala
B.Sc. in Biology
Grants/Awards:
Grants:
- Jesus College Doctoral Student Research Grant (x 2)
- New Phytologist travel grant
Talk/poster prizes:
Grants:
- 2019-2022 (PI): Carlsberg Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship (University of Copenhagen, Natural History Museum of Denmark), The Evolutionary History of the Greenlandic Flora.
- 2020-2021 (co-PI): SYNTHESYS+ Virtual Access Call (EU), Digitisation of Greenlandic peat moss (Sphagnum) collections from four herbaria. With M. Stech (Naturalis, Leiden, Netherlands).
- 2019-2022 (PI): Aage V. Jensen Fond Grønlands Endemiske Plantearter: Evolutionshistorie Og Sårbarhed.
- Participation GreenLAnd Circumnavigation Expedition (GLACE) 2019
- 2014–2015: (co-I) NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility (NBAF) Pilot Project Grant. Exploiting herbarium resources: a case study on Antarctic endemic plant biogeography. With J. Jackson (BAS).
- Travel grants:
- Jesus College Doctoral Student Research Grant (x 2)
- New Phytologist travel grant
Talk/poster prizes:
- Laws Prize at the British Antarctic Survey, 2020
- New Phytologist Meeting, Bristol, 2016 (runner-up prize poster)
- Cambridge third year seminar, Dep. of Plant Sciences, U. of Cambridge, 2015 (best talk)
- Cambridge Centre for Climate Science (CCfCS) Symposium, 2015 (best talk)
- Cambridge first year seminar, Dep. Of Plant Sciences, U. of Cambridge, 2013 (best talk)
Other:
Languages:
- Postdoctoral Research Associate position with Darwin College, Cambridge
- Team member A Functional Biogeography of the Antarctic (AFBA)
- Team member BIOgeography and biodiversity of GREENland (BIO-GREEN)
- Editor and expert on Antarctic plant taxonomy in Register of Antarctic Species (RAS)
- Reviewer for Ecology Letters, Global Change Biology, Journal of Biogeography, Polar Science and Arctic Science, Bryophyte Diversity and Evolution
Languages:
- Fluent: Dutch, English
- Good: Norwegian; Danish
- Beginner: German, Swedish
Fieldwork experience:
- 2020 Jan: South Shetland Islands, Antarctic Peninsula, soil-gas flux fieldwork and citizen science (co-I)
- 2019 Aug: Kangerlussuaq (Søndre Strømfjord) area, Greenland, terrestrial sampling (PI)
- 2018 Dec: Navarino Island, Southern Chile; terrestrial ecology fieldwork with the Vrije Universiteit (VU), Amsterdam
- 2018 Aug: NERC Station, Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, Norway, fieldwork for BAS soil incubation experiment (acting PI)
- 2018 Jul: Arctic Station, Disko Island, Greenland, project on plant rhizosphere (co-I)
- 2017-2018 Dec-Feb: South Georgia and Chile, project on soil and ecosystem succession in a glacier foreland, terrestrial sampling (PI)
- 2017 Jun-Jul: Arctic Station, Disko Island, Greenland; terrestrial sampling (PI) and soil-gas flux fieldwork
- 2017 Feb–Mar: Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (ACE), sub-Antarctic expedition from Chile to South Africa, terrestrial sampling (acting PI)
- 2017 Jan: South Shetland Islands and Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctic expedition with the Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH), terrestrial sampling (acting PI)
- 2015 Aug–Sep: SEES (Netherlands Scientific Expedition Edgeøya Spitsbergen), eastern Svalbard, terrestrial sampling (acting PI)
- 2015 Jul: NERC Station, Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, Norway; fieldwork for BAS soil incubation experiment
- 2015 Jan: South Shetland Islands, expedition with the Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH), terrestrial sampling (acting PI)
- 2014 Jun–Jul: NERC Station, Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, Norway: fieldwork for BAS soil incubation experiment
- 2013 Feb–Mar: Arctic Winter Ecology Course (UNIS, University of Svalbard, Norway)
- 2012 Nov: Arctic Winter Ecology Course (UNIS, University of Svalbard, Norway)
- 2011 Mar–Apr: Terrestrial Invertebrate Fauna of Svalbard Workshop (UNIS, University of Svalbard, Norway)
- 2010 Jun–Aug: Dutch Arctic Centre, Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, Norway; project on the seasonal variation in abundance of arthropods. Field assistant working on bird, plant and microbiology research.
- 2009 Jun–Aug: Dutch Arctic Centre, Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, Norway: project on the seasonal variation in abundance of arthropods. Field assistant working on bird and limnology research.
Conference and public talks :
- 2020 Oct: Laws Prize webinar (online)
- 2018 Aug: Ny-Ålesund Terrestrial Flagship Meeting (Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard)
- 2018 Jun: XXXV SCAR/IASC Open Science Conference (Davos, Switzerland) (poster)
- 2017 Aug: European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB) (Groningen, Netherlands) (poster)
- 2017 Jul: XII SCAR Biology (Leuven, Belgium) (public lecture, talk and co-organised symposium)
- 2016 Sep: Register of Antarctic Species (RAS) Workshop (Leuven, Belgium)
- 2016 Aug: XXXIV SCAR Open Science Conference (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) (Talk)
- 2016 Jul: New Phytologist Meeting (Bristol, UK) (2nd prize poster)
- 2016 Jul: UK Antarctic Meeting (UEA, Norwich, UK) (Talk)
- 2016 Jun: Bryophyte Meeting (Bonn, Germany) (Talk)
- 2016 Jun: Cambridge Third year seminar, Department of Plant Sciences, Cambridge (winner best talk)
- 2015 May: Cambridge Centre for Climate Science (CCfCS) Student Symposium, Scott Polar Institute, UK (winner best talk)
- 2015 Jan: International Association of Bryologists 2015 World Conference (Navarino Island, Chile) (talk, co-organised symposium)
- 2014 Dec: The Arctic Biodiversity Congress (Trondheim, Norway) (poster)
- 2014 Aug: XXXIII SCAR Open Science Conference (Auckland, New Zealand) (poster)
- 2013 Nov: British Antarctic Survey Student Conference (Cambridge, UK) (poster)
- 2013 Sep: UK Arctic Science Conference (Scott Polar Research Institute, UK) (two posters)
- 2013 Oct: Zero Carbon Society (Cambridge, UK) (Talk)
- 2013 Jul: XI SCAR Biology Symposium (Barcelona, Spain) (Poster)
- 2013 Jun: Cambridge first year seminar, Department of Plant Sciences, Cambridge (winner best talk)
- 2012 Nov: Next Generation Sequencing at the Poles” workshop (University of Liege, Belgium) (Poster)
- 2012 Jun: Open presentation M.Sc. thesis (University of Bergen, Norway) (Talk)
- 2011 Nov: UK Polar Network workshop (BAS, UK) (Poster)
- 2011 Mar: Terrestrial Invertebrate Fauna of Svalbard Workshop 2011 Norwegian-Russian workshop (UNIS, Norway) (Talk)