Invited speakers

Leiden University (Netherlands), Université de Rennes 1 (France).

Prof. Jacques van Alphen is head of the section of animal ecology of the Institute of Biology at the Leiden University. He also holds a Marie Curie chair of excellence in Behavioural Ecology at the University of Rennes. He is interested in a wide variety of evolutionary topics, from both fundamental and applied research on parasitoids to the rapid speciation of cichlid fishes. He is currently focusing on the effect of global climate change on the evolutionary traits in insect parasitoids.

Title of the talk: "Life history & Behaviour, a key to understanding sympatric speciation, coexistence of species and, perhaps, the effects of climate change"

Webpage with selected publications

Liverpool University, UK

Dr. Michael Brockhurst is a lecturer of host-parasite biology and member of the Population and Evolutionary Biology Research Division of the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Liverpool. He is interested in the causes and consequences of biodiversity, host-parasite coevolution as well as in the impact of ecological processes such as population structure and migration on coevolution. He tests ecological and evolutionary theory empirically using populations of microbes.

Title of the talk: "Cooperation, coevolution and adaptive radiation: Using bacteria as an experimental evolutionary model"

Webpage with selected publications

Alean-academics, Eglisau; University of Zurich

Dr. Pamela Alean-Kirkpatrick is a member of the Academic Support Office in the Biology Department of the University of Zurich. Her work consists of consultancies, training courses for faculty, and establishing and coordinating a qualification program for teaching assistants. In addition she is self-employed and facilitates courses in transferable skills for young researchers (e.g. project management, oral and poster presentations, career development, supervision of students) at various universities in Switzerland.

Title of the talk: "Developing a skills profile as a PhD student: defining and communicating skills for the job market"

Webpage