«Interactions between local and global density drive dispersal and the spread of a rapid invasion» was selected as the best talk presented at the EMPSEB23 in Krasiczyn (Poland).
The 23rd edition of the European Meeting of PhD Students in Evolutionary Biology (EMPSEB) took place in the beautiful castle of Krasiczyn (Poland) last week. In this annual meeting, outstanding PhD students in Evolutionary Biology from all over Europe have the opportunity to present their work to their fellow PhD students. The conference takes place in a different country every year, and since 2012 it has been proudly sponsored by AllGenetics. The AllGenetics-EMPSEB Award is bestowed every year on the PhD student giving the best talk at the conference. The award is a one-week vacation in the Galician county of Ortigueira (North West Spain), where the awardee and five friends are invited to enjoy the charming and pleasant atmosphere at The Farm Cottage.
This year, the talk «Interactions between local and global density drive dispersal and the spread of a rapid invasion» presented by Sebastiano De Bona was selected by the EMPSEB’s plenary speakers’ committee as the best talk at the conference.
Sebastiano is a PhD student at the Department of Biological and Environmental Science, at the Jyväskylän yliopisto in Finland. He is part of the ‘LoST’ group, led by Dr. Andrés López-Sepulcre, and is interested in how ecology and evolution interact, generating eco-evolutionary feedbacks. His research focuses on how dispersal evolves in response to density-dependent selection, and how this shapes species distributions in space. This is key to predicting the response of native populations to climate change, and the spread of invasive species.
Previous winners of the AllGenetics-EMPSEB Award were:
- Mareike Wurdack (Universität Freiburg) in 2012.
- Pepijn Kamminga (Universiteit Leiden) in 2013.
- Margo Maex (Vrije universiteit Brussel) in 2014.
- John Bruce (University of Oxford) in 2015.
- Amy Eacock (University of Liverpool) in 2016.