Early Career Scientists
ACTNOW Project
Kleopatra Kalloniati
PhD, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Remote Sensing and Biochemical Oceanography
"By combining long-term observations, field cruises, and climate projections, my research in ACTNOW explores how climate-driven warming and anthropogenic pressures are reshaping coastal plankton communities and threatening the sustainability of Mediterranean mussel aquaculture."
James Andrew de Haast
PhD, University of Helsinki
Marine Biology
"I model marine systems; my research focuses on using hierarchical modelling of species communities (HMSC) to identify the drivers of changes in community composition and biodiversity. Currently, I am working on comparing multiple HMSC models across different areas, focusing on shared drivers and the question: is a big model better than several regional models?"
Sarah Kempf
PhD, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research
Ecophysiology
“The remote, fragile corners of our planet, especially the poles, have long been my core habitat. Currently, my research focuses on Polar cod, a vital keystone species in the Arctic ecosystem. By identifying their environmental thresholds and how they respond to climate change, I aim to understand how resilient this crucial species is in a rapidly changing world.”
Eugénie Dereuder
PhD, University of Rostock
Ecophysiology
"My work within ACTNOW investigates how physical and chemical stressors may act together and create stronger biological effects on marine organisms than they would individually. Specifically, I use laboratory experiments to study the responses of blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) to stressors that are becoming increasingly common in polluted aquatic environments (e.g. temperature, hypoxia, pharmaceuticals, and trace metals). Mussels are my model organism because they are widespread across Europe and form reefs that are very important for coastal biodiversity. I assess their responses through a range of indicators, from physiological rates, attachment capacity and thermal performance to cellular biomarkers and metabolomic responses."
Andrea Budiša
PhD, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW)
Marine Ecology
“I study marine phytoplankton, focusing on species that can trigger harmful algal blooms (HABs) and disrupt vital ecosystem services. My research uses multifactorial experiments to understand how these taxa respond to global change drivers, particularly warming and eutrophication. This work aims to help clarify what blooms could look like in the future.”
Valentina Leoni
CoNISMa
Marine Ecology
"My research focuses on the ecology of cnidarian jellyfish across both regional and global scales. In the Mediterranean Sea, I study the environmental drivers, trophic role, and population dynamics of jellyfish blooms through biological sampling and ecosystem-based analyses. At the global scale, my work synthesizes jellyfish diet data and bloom dynamics to better understand their ecological functions, socio-ecological impacts, and current monitoring frameworks worldwide."
Patrizia Stipcich
PhD, University of Naples Federico II
Marine Ecology
“Within ACTNOW, I focused on identifying the interacting factors influencing leaf bleaching in the seagrass Posidonia oceanica, an endemic species of the Mediterranean Sea. Although leaf bleaching is commonly considered a sign of senescence, our findings showed that it is also driven by multiple environmental factors. These results not only provided new insights, but also raised further research questions. The questions emerging from the ACTNOW outcomes led to my next step: receiving funding as a National Geographic Explorer for a follow-up project called B-POSITIVE.”
Anika Happe
Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment (ICBM), University of Oldenburg
Plankton ecology, biodiversity
"I provide a structured overview of how marine biodiversity is assessed in European waters, spanning policy frameworks, assessment tools, and scientific studies. In addition, I analyze long-term datasets to examine how population trends and biodiversity have changed within my local ecosystem, the Wadden Sea."
