Researchers who have recently joined the OCCR:

Quynh Nguyen-Zoller, Associate Professor at the Wyss Academy for Nature, is a new member of the OCCR Comparative Politics group and the Institute of Political Science at the University of Bern. Her research focuses on environmental governance, sustainable development, and the nexus between environmental and economic policy, with a particular interest in how public opinion shapes and responds to these global policy challenges. Quynh was a senior lecturer at the Australian National University. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Princeton University and earned her PhD at ETH Zurich.

Stefano Jud, a PostDoc at the Wyss Academy for Nature, is a new member of the OCCR Comparative Politics group . Before joining the Wyss Academy in October 2023, he completed his PhD at Emory University (USA). He holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs and Master of Arts in International Affairs & Governance from the University of St. Gallen and a Master in Global Economy and Management from Yonsei University (South Korea).

Henrique Sposito, a PostDoc at the Wyss Academy for Nature, is a new member of the OCCR Comparative Politics group. His research leverages advanced text analysis techniques, such as supervised machine learning, to comparatively investigate diverse aspects of political discourses and environmental politics in Latin America. Henrique holds a PhD in International Relations and Political Science from the Geneva Graduate Institute.

Remo Agovic, a PhD Candidate at the Wyss Academy for Nature, is a new member of the OCCR Comparative Politics group. He holds an MSc in Economics from the University of Zurich. Remo’s research centers on the well-being of vulnerable populations living with environmental pressures. His PhD examines community-based conservation and development in tropical forests under accelerating infrastructure and environmental pressure. His master’s thesis analyzed how drought affects coffee production in Brazil and the implications for plantation workers.

Zhaofei Wu is a new PostDoc with the Dendrosciences group. He completed his PhD in Environmental Science at Beijing Normal University in 2024 and has been a visiting researcher at WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape since 2025. Wu’s research is focused on tree phenology, senescence modelling, ecophysiology, and remote sensing.

Wei Song is a new PhD with the Terrestrial Ecology group. He completed his Master’s in Ecology at Fudan University, China, with a thesis entitled "The effects of native plant genotype diversity on soil multifunctionality under plant invasion”. His research interests focus on exploring the impacts of global change on the relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem function and the underlying driving mechanisms. By linking global change to plants, soils, and ecosystem functions, Wei aims to better understand the consequences of these change factors and then inform the development of effective response strategies.

Manon Berger has joined the Ocean Modelling Group as a PostDoc. Manon recently completed her PhD in marine biogeochemistry and climate science at Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris, France. Her PhD focused on the coastal ocean carbon cycle and the potential role of macroalgae in removing atmospheric CO2. At the OCCR, Manon will explore extreme future outcomes by developing ’what if’ scenarios and examining the consequences of crossing critical tipping points in the coupled ocean physical-biogeochemical system.

Hyuna Kim is a new PostDoc with the Global Biogeochemical Modelling group as well as the Geocomputation and Earth Observation Group. Hyuna obtained her PhD in Climate Science from Pusan National University, South Korea, in 2024. In her PhD, she worked on water isotopes in the lab and Earth system models, as well as investigating land-ocean feedbacks of the hydrological cycle during past, present, and future climates. Here in Bern, Hyuna will work with the LPX-Bern dynamical global vegetation model, investigating tipping points in the biosphere and their interactions with other components of the climate system.

Natacha Legrix is a new Postdoc with the Marine Biogeochemistry & Pollutants group. Natacha finished her PhD in 2023 at the Ocean Modelling group and has spent the last year in Liverpool working on projections of marine primary production. After her return to OCCR, she will explore data from the BGC-Argo project. She will focus on data measured by the particle backscattering sensor and analyze distribution and variability of the marine particle concentration. Biogeochemical-Argo (BGC-Argo) is an extension of the Argo float program which includes biogeochemical observations

Robin Heiserer is a new PhD with the Past Climate and Biogeochemistry in Ice Cores group. Before studying climate sciences, Robin completed a Master’s in Climate Science at the University of Bern with a thesis entitled "Reconstructing atmospheric CO₂ concentrations during Marine Isotope Stage 8: A high-resolution study using the EDC ice core". His research focuses on reconstructing past greenhouse gas concentrations using Antarctic ice cores.

Ailsa Chung is the new Postdoc with the Ice Sheet Dynamics group. A familiar face to many in the ice-core community at the University of Bern’s Climate and Environmental Physics division (CEP) and beyond already, Ailsa’s work during her PhD contributed significantly to the Beyond EPICA pre-sight survey efforts. Ailsa was also part of the BELDC drilling efforts updating her model result in a tent at 3233 m elevation and about 2700 m above Antarctic bedrock. During her Postdoc Ailsa will assess the isotopic fingerprint of the Antarctic Ice Sheet across the Quaternary on regional and continental scale combining ice sheet models of various complexity.

George Pacey is a new PostDoc with the Mobiliar Group for Climate Impact Research. George completed his PhD in Meteorology at the Freie Universität Berlin. His research is focused on driving mechanisms and prediction of convective hazards such as hail, lightning, convective wind gusts, extreme precipitation, deep moist convective initiation, as well as data science and machine learning.

Sophie Meyer is a new PostDoc with the Climate change and health group. Sophie has a scientific training in Humanities with a Master’s in Religion in Contemporary Society at the University of Bern. Her interest then shifted to Public Health and the (social) applicability of science, especially in the context of science and policy interaction. Sophie acquired her PhD at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine ISPM in 2025.

Coral Salvador Gimeno is a new SNF Ambizione PostDoc with the Climate change and health group. Coral completed her PhD in 2020 at the University of Vigo, Spain, with a thesis on the impacts of droughts on human health in the Iberian Peninsula. At OCCR, she is leading the interdisciplinary IGIA-SETH project (unravelInG the ImpActs of droughtS on human hEalTH), funded by an SNSF Ambizione grant. This project aims to advance knowledge of the role of droughts in public health at local, regional and global scales.

Tino Schneidewind is a new PhD at the Climate change and health group. His research focuses on attributing the impacts of climate change on quality of life as part of the TACTIC project. He is attributing the years of life the Swiss population has lost to climate change. Tino completed his Master’s in Climate Science at the University of Bern with a thesis on “The risk of hospitalization associated with foehn winds and temperature in the mountainous region of Switzerland”.

Lena Fasnacht is a new PhD at the Cloud Dynamics group. She completed her master's degree in environmental sciences with a focus on atmospheric dynamics at ETH Zurich with a thesis entitled "Upper-Level Ridges and the North Pacific Midwinter Suppression of the North Pacific Storm Track in Present and Future Climate". Now, Lena is looking forward to participating in the NAWDIC measurement campaign in February 2026. Her work will focus on quantifying precipitation evaporation from a Lagrangian perspective.

Terry Rolfe is a new PostDoc with the Isotope Biogeoscience group. He started work on the project “METHIR: Metrology for harmonisation of field isotope ratio measurements”. Terry is a climate scientist with a PhD in Applied Physics from Portland State University. He has a background in applied physics, isotope biogeochemistry, and atmospheric chemistry. His research interests center around the application of high-precision isotopic and trace gas measurements to study green-house gas source and sink processes in both the atmosphere and ocean.