Researchers who have recently joined the OCCR:

Jevgeniy Bluwstein, a SNSF Ambizione Fellow at the Department of Social Anthropology, has joined the OCCR as adjunct researcher. Jevgeniy’s research focuses on climate activism and litigation. Recently, he was awarded an ERC Starting Grant for his project “Legal Governmentality: Governing Climate Activism Through Criminal Law and Human Rights in Europe (LeGo)” in which he examines how climate protests are both criminalized and defended against criminalization based on human rights.

Maïlys Picard is a new PostDoc with the Sedimentary Geochemistry group. She will investigate sedimentary ancient DNA from Lake Nam Co on the Tibetan Plateau to explore how the flora and fauna in the lake and catchment have responded to past changes in climate, hydrology, and glacial extents. Maïlys earned her PhD in Biology at the Cawthron Institute in Nelson, New Zealand, followed by a Postdoctoral position at Umeå University in Sweden. ­ ­    ­    ­ ­

Anni Bukowski is a new PhD with the Climate ethics and philosophy of climate science group. She completed her Master in Philosophy of Science at the Leibniz University Hannover with the thesis "The Impact of Probability on Scientific Realism: The case of the Bayesian No Miracles Argument". Her research focuses on the various dimensions of uncertainty in climate modelling, bringing together philosophy of probability and contemporary debates on values in science. Anni has joined the new “Is more always better?”-project (see entry above).

Emilie Schwarz is a new PhD with the Climate epidemiology and public health group. She completed her Master in Public Health at the French School of Public Health with the thesis "Association between living in flood-prone regions and early childhood vaccination in Bangladesh”. Her research focuses on evaluating how climate change and extreme climate events, specifically droughts, impact human health. The title of her PhD thesis is “Droughts and health: assessing risks and vulnerability patterns”.

Emma Holmberg is new PostDoc with the Climate epidemiology and public health group. Her research focuses on the attribution of health impacts to climate change. Emma completed her PhD at the Uppsala University with a thesis on the predictability of European heatwaves and their health impacts under climate change.

Hicham Achebak is a new PostDoc with the Climate epidemiology and public health group. He has been awarded the highly competitive SNSF Swiss Postdoctoral Fellowship (SPF) to lead his project TEMPO (Temperature Exposure During Pregnancy and Birth Outcomes in Europe). Before joining the OCCR, he was a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at both the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) and the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal).

Maha Sheikh is a new PhD with the Geomorphology and Natural Hazards group. She completed her a Master in Water Science and Engineering with the thesis “Morphological Effects of Longitudinal River Bank Stabilization Works”. Her research focuses on understanding how extreme flood events reshape river systems and landscapes under climate change, with the aim of creating more effective flood risk reduction strategies. The working title of her PhD thesis is “Cascading Floods and River Geomorphic Response to Flood Events”.

Patricia Nying’uro is a new PhD with the Epistemology and ethics of climate change adaptation group. Patricia completed her Master of Science in Climate Change at the University of Nairobi with the thesis "Investigating Effects of Climate Change on Aflatoxin Causing Fungi Aspergillus Distribution in Maize in Kenya". Her research focuses on incorporating diverse knowledge sources in understanding impacts and attribution of climate change and related extreme events. The working title of her PhD thesis is "Short-term backward and forward causal network modelling of regional weather events".

Ilaria Cendali is a new PhD with the Paleoecology group. Ilaria completed her Master in Archaeology and in Sciences for conservation and diagnostic of Cultural Heritage, both at the University of Milan with the thesis “Palynosicily: Indagare paesaggi culturali e trasformazioni ambientali attraverso la palinologia”. Her research focuses on the reconstruction of the changes in the landscape during the years caused by the impact of humans or by climate changes, assessing the context of the past urbanization dynamics. Ilaria is participating in the new SNSF project CIVES. The working title of her PhD thesis is “Highly resolved time-series from Greek lake sediment archives provide 3000 Years of PalaeOecological and Land-Use Interaction reconstructionS (POLIS)”.

Emma Cuenot is a new PhD with the Paleoecology group. She completed a Master in Biology, Ecology and Evolution with a specialization in CEPAGE (Chrono Environment and Paleoecology) at the University of Montpellier with the thesis “Reconstruction of early South American environments based on palynological analyses of the Heinrich Stadial 1 extreme climate event”. Her research focuses on long term interactions between climate, ecosystems and human societies. Emma has joined the new SNSF project CIVES. The working title of her PhD thesis is “Understanding early urbanisation processes in southern Europe (Greece) using high-resolution multiproxy reconstructions from annually laminated lacustrine sediments covering the last 3000 years”.

Jens Müller is a new Postdoc with the Ocean Modelling group. Jens is an ocean biogeochemist who has spent the past few years at ETH Zurich working on analyses of historical ocean CO2 uptake and acidification. At the OCCR, he coordinates OAEMIP, the first global model intercomparison project on ocean alkalinity enhancement, supported by the Carbon to Sea Initiative.

Zoé Jequier is a new PhD with the Mobiliar Group for Climate Impact Research. She completed a Master in environmental sciences with a minor in atmosphere and climate at ETHZ with the thesis “Added value of high-resolution radar data to study localised and intense rain events in Switzerland”. In her PhD she will be working with lightning data and look for signatures of severe weather, such as lightning jumps.

Zoe Wessely is a new PhD with the Paleogenomics and Vegetation Modelling group. Zoe completed a Master in Genetics and Developmental Biology at the University of Vienna with a thesis entitled “In silico identification of cis-regulatory elements in Clusia species”. Her research focuses on reconstructing long term vegetation dynamics of alpine species to better understand how plant populations have responded to past environmental changes. The working title of her PhD thesis is “Long-term dynamics of genetic diversity in European plant populations”.

Hongyan Jin is a new PhD with the Dendrosciences group. Hongyan completed a Master in Plant Ecological Adaptation at the Chinese Academy of Sciences with the thesis "Floral and foliar freezing resistance and ecological adaptation mechanisms in 12 Rhododendron species". Her research focuses on the plant phenological responses to climate change and their frost survival strategies. The working title of her PhD thesis is “Integrating phenology and freezing resistance: ecological and phylogenetic pathways to cold adaptation in plants”.

Ignatius Indi is a new PhD with the Quaternary Geology and Paleoclimatology group. He completed his Master in Geology at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Saudi Arabia, with the thesis “Dynamicity of Volcaniclastics in Fluvial-Coastal-Aeolian Sedimentary Systems: Insights for Mars”. His research focuses on the mineralogical surface processes and the paleoclimate on Mars. The working title of his PhD thesis is “Fan-Delta Deposits on Mars as Records of Mars’ Past Wet Climate and Paleoshoreline Indicator”.

Michael Strupler is new member of the scientific staff with the Quaternary Geology and Paleoclimatology group. Michael is a Limnogeologist specializing in analyzing the sediments and morphology of various subaqueous landforms and investigating related natural hazards. He completed his Master at the University of Zurich and his PhD at the ETH Zurich.