People

The SalGo Team is an interdisciplinary group researchers with 7 postdocs (+ 1 externally advised), 5 PhD students (+ 6 externally advised), 6 research assistants, 4 MSc students, and 3 research associates based at the University of Oxford. The research group's PI is Assoc. Prof. Rob Salguero-Gómez, and its morale is kindly supported by Manon.

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Kevin Bairos-Novak (He/Him)

Institution: University of Queensland, Australia

Primary supervisor: Prof Diana Fisher

Email: k.bairosnovak@uq.edu.au

GoogleScholar

CV

Kevin is interested in how semelparity evolves across plants and animals, including the evolution of male-only semelparity. He uses multi-species comparative approaches and quantitative evolutionary models.

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Brasil Canales Gordillo

Institution: UNAM, Mexico

Primary supervisor: Prof Hibraim Perez-Mendoza

Email: brasilceco@gmail.com

X(Twitter): @CanalesEco

CV

His research explores the eco-evolutionary dynamics of natural lizard populations, mainly demographic changes, life history evolution, and how environment and sexual selection influence population dynamics.

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Wan-Chien (Victoria) Hsiao

Institution: University of Leeds, UK

Primary supervisor: Prof Maria Beger

Email: bswch@leeds.ac.uk

X(Twitter): @W_V_Hsiao

CV

Her PhD examines the functional and demographic traits of coral populations across a latitudinal gradient to identify the different demographic strategies between reef-building and marginal communities and how they are linked to their environmental settings.

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Kenneth Jops

Institution: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA

Primary supervisor: Dr James O'Dwyer

Email: kjops2@illinois.edu

CV

His PhD work uses modeling approaches to explore how variation in life history strategies within plant communities violates neutral assumptions and impacts competitive outcomes. He is currently examining how physiological and developmental parameters in plants affect competition and community assembly.

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Fiona Chung

Institution: University of Hull & University of Leeds

Primary supervisors: Prof Maria Beger

Email: f.chong-2019@hull.ac.uk

X(Twitter): @whowantsachong

CV

For her PhD, Fiona is exploring the spatio-temporal dynamics of subtropical coral populations, identifying demographic and functional traits that allow coral population persistence in high latitude marginal environments under climate change.

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Rahul Mondal

Institution: International Institute for Population Sciences (IPPS), Mumbai, India

Primary supervisor: Prof Udaya Shankar Mishra

Email: rahul.vb07@gmail.com

X(Twitter): @rahul_mondal07

CV

His PhD examines the evolutionary implications of stochastic environments, population extinction, and adaptive life history strategies on long-term fitness in humans and other species. I concentrate on the demographic and environmental stochasticity to investigate the elusive dynamics of lifespan. I use formal demography methods to test the evolutionary theories of senescence.

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Shamia Farhana Shoma

Institution: The University of Queensland, Australia

Primary Supervisor: Prof. Diana Fisher

Email: s.shoma@uqconnect.edu.au

X(Twitter): @Shamia_Shoma

CV

Her PhD investigates the evolution of semelparity in animals using multi-species comparative approaches, population-level tests, and quantitative models. Specifically, she aims to determine adult-biased mortality mechanisms and constraints on life history evolution, assess conservation implications of life history traits and examine how sexual conflict influences male semelparity.

Dr Simran Aujla: Previously at Sheffield University, UK, where he carried out his PhD thesis "Eco-evolutionary dynamics of plant carnivory".
 

Dr Ruth Archer: Previously at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Germany, where she was postdoctoral fellow in the Evolutionary Demography laboratory. Ruth worked part-time with Rob Salguero-Gómez on the development of the COMPADRE and COMPADRE databases. She is currently an associate research fellow at the University of Ulm, Germany.

Dominique Baptiste: Previously a UNIQ+ student/research assistant in the team examining the role of plasticity in the demography of fruit flies, now finishing her BSc in Biology at Uni Bristol.

Dr Hendrik de Burh: Previously at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Germany, where he worked as a student helper of COMPADRE and COMADRE during 2013-2014. Currently, a Marie Curie fellow at UMC Utrecht.
 
Irene Barriga Garcia-Lisbona: Previously a MBiol student in the group, where she examined host-parasite dynamics, she's now working at an NGO.
 
Guy Barwell: Previously a lab tech working on a project examining the effects of anti-ageing drugs on C. elegans. Went back to his MBiol at Oxford.
 
Dr Steph Borrelle: Previously at Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand, where she carried out her PhD examining the effects of human-led stressors on population dynamics of birds. Currently a Smith Fellow at the University of Georgia.
 
Dr James Cant: Previously, a PhD student co-supervised with Dr Maria Beger. James explored the drivers of population and community resilience in coral reefs. Went on to do a postdoc at the University of St Andrews, UK, and then returned to the group as a postdoc.
 
Dr Pol Capdevila: Previously a Ramon Areces postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Zoology, where he examined the differences in life history strategies between aquatic and terrestrial species. When on to do a Marie Curie fellow at the University of Barcelona, Spain, where is now a faculty member.
 
Dr Jana Cela: Previously at University of Barcelona, Spain, where she was a lab tech supported by Rob's DECRA project "Is plant organization the secret of eternal youth?". She now works in the private sector.
 
Charlotte Crame: Previously a NERC REP summer student building sensors for DRAGNet. Currently working towards her degree in Engineering at Oxford.
 
Yasmin Dave: Previously a UNIQ+ student using AI approaches to identify plant species in DRAGNet. Currently finishing her undergraduate degree in humanities in central London.
 
Joshua Darne: Previously an RA in the lab. Went back to his BSc in Physics at Oxford.
 
Dr Jacques Deere: Previously a postdoc with us at the Department of Zoology, where he studied the effects of calorie restriction on flatworms. Currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Amsterdam.
 
Claudia Farack: Previously a student helper of COMPADRE and COMADRE  MSc student of Agricultural Sciences at the University of Rostock.
 
Philip Fernandes: Previously a MRes student in the group, examining the role of droughts on community-trait assembly in grasslands. Currently a PhD student at Durham University, UK.
 
Dr Sam Gascoigne: Previously a DPhil student in the group, now a postdoc at University of Aberdeen.
 
Fränce Gottschalk: Previously at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Germany, where she was a MSc student of Demography at the University of Rostock. She worked as a student helper of COMPADRE and COMADRE during 2013-2016. Currently, working as a consultant lead at a firm in Germany.
 
Aryaman Gupta: Previously a NERC summer REP student exploring community-level effects of population resilience. He is now finishing his degree in Philosophy and Mathematics at Oxford.
 
Hamza Hamad: Previously a research assistant developing a database of eusocial and cooperative breeding information to examine senescence. Currently doing a PhD at Oxford.
 
Dr Kevin Healy: Previously a postdoc on comparative animal demography co-advised with Yvonne Buckley. Currently an assistant professor at Ireland National University Galway.
 
Penelope Holland: Previously an international visiting student in the group, examining the role of stochastic dietary regimes on senescence. Now back in the US, finishing her studies at Brown University.
 
Dr John Jackson: Previously a postdoc in the team, evaluating novel technologies to monitor community resilience, now a Marie Curie Fellow with a past PhD student of the group, Maria Panic (below), in Seville, Spain.
 
Sharon Janssen: Previously a MSc student examining eco-evolutionary dynamics of mistletoes co-advised with Hans de Kroon. Currently a PhD student at the University of Ghent, Belgium.
 
Michał Jezierski: Previously an undergraduate research internt. Currently doing his DPhil at the Department of Biology, Oxford
 
Dr Maja Kajin: Previously a Marie Curie fellow in the group, now an assistant professor at University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.
 
Wael Khafagi: Previously a NERC summer REP student in the lab. Went back to his studies at UCL in Computer Sciences.
 
Dr Erik Kusch: Previously a PhD student at Uni Aarhus (Denmark), now at the Museum of Natural History in Oslo.
 
Prof Daniel Laughlin: Did a sabbatical in the lab in 2024. Now back in the USA.
 
Young Jun Lee: Previous a research assistant in the group. Now finishing his MBiol at Oxford.
 
Dr Sam Levin: Previously a PhD student at iDiv (Germany), now working in the private consultancy world in the USA.
 
Maya Lemaire: Conducted her final MBiol year project in the lab, titled "Increases in Arctic extreme climatic events are linked to negative fitness effects on the local biota".
 
Dr Tristan Lemke: Previously at Rostock University, Germany, where he completed his PhD thesis "Population dynamics of the plant species Trollius europaeus (Ranunculaceae) in response to land use and variation in pollination efficiency". Currently, working for the private consulting sector in Germany.
 
Prof Shouli Li: Did a sabbatical in the lab during 2023-2024. Now back in China.
 
Wenyi Liu: Previously an RA in the lab. Went back to her MBiol at Oxford.
 
Georgia Marshall: Previously at the University of Queensland, Australia, she did her honours thesis examining the predictive power of functional traits for population dynamics of Plantago lanceolata in various population of Queensland exerted to varying degrees of competition and abiotic stressors, co-advised with John Dwyer. Currently in an environmental consultant in Perth.
 
Marcel Masso: Previously a final-year BSc exchange student predicting community ecology outcomes based on biochemical proxies in DRAGNet. Currently doing an MSc at University of Barcelona.
 
Jessie McLean: Conducted her final MBiol year project in the lab, titled "Using repeated airborne LiDAR to model post-fire passage time of Picea mariana".
 
Thomas Merrien: Previously at the University of Oxfor, UK, where he carried out his MSc thesis project "Urban environments as filters of species demographic resilience", co-supervised with Dr Pol Capdevila, Dr Katrina Davis, and Dr Moreno Di-Marco. Went on to do a PhD at the Finnish Museum of Natural History. Currently working for the private sector in France.
 
Daisy Mills: Previously a UNIQ+ student in the lab. She went back to her BSc in Biosciences at Durham University.
 
Dr Melanie Morales: Previously at the University of Barcelona, Spain, where she was a postdoc supported by Rob's DECRA project "Is plant organization the secret of eternal youth?". Currently, a research fellow at the University of Barcelona, Spain.
 
Dr Maria Paniw: Previously at Cadiz University, Spain, where she completed her PhD thesis "Effects of fire on an endemic, carnivorous plant species: Drosophyllum lusitanicum (Drosophyllaceae)" co-advised with Fernando Ojeda. Until recently, a Juan de la Cierva fellow at CREAF, Spain. Now a Ramon & Cajal fellow at the EBD-CSIC, Spain.
 
Dr John Park: Previously a Marie Curie fellow in the group, now a postdoc in Ben Sheldon's research group.
 
Abir Patwary: Previously a summer intern at University of Oxford. Currently doing a PhD at the BBSRC DTP of Oxford.
 
Robert Penman: Previously a NERC DTP summer intern at University of Oxford. After completing his BSc in Physics at the University of Oxford, he went on to work for the private sector.
 
Kamen Petrov: Previously a research assistant helping in a project examining the role of splitting of planaria on senescence. Currently finishing a medical degree at Kings College, UK.
 
Matthew Philpott: Previously a research assistant working with the COMPADRE Database. Now working at ThinkNature in Japan.
 
Dr Tomos Potter: Previously a research assistant working with the PADRINO IPM Database. Currently doing a postdoc at the University of Florida, USA.
 
Dr Courtenay Ray: Previously a PhD student co-supervised with Ben Blonder. Currently doing a postdoc at University of Wyoming.
 
Vinaya Roehl: Previously a research assistant with RainDrop, now doing her MBiol at Oxford.
 
Dr Simon Rolph: Previously at Sheffield University, where he completed his PhD thesis "The determinants of optimal life history strategies in a variable world", co-advised with Dr Dylan Childs, Prof Rob Freckleton, and Dr Jonathan Potts. Now a research analyst at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.
 
Dr Gesa Römer: Previously at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Germany, where she was a Dual MEd student of Biology and German at the University of Rostock. She worked as a student helper of COMPADRE and COMADRE during 2012-2016. Currently, a teacher in Germany.
 
Dr Roberto Rodriguez: Previously a postdoc in the team, exploring the interface of reptile life history strategies and their human threats, now a research fellow at the Universidad Miguel Hernandez, Spain.
 
Dr Mark Roper: Previously a DPhil student in the team, moved on to do a postdoc in Hal Caswell's group at University of Amsterdam. Currently working in the private sector in London.
 
Daisy Sankey: Previous a student in the lab working with support of UNIQ+. Now a MSc student in Environmental Sciences at Oxford.
 
Dr Gabriel Santos: Previously a PhD student co-supervised with Maja Kajin, examining responses of natural populations to stochastic environments. Currently a science teacher.
 
Emily Seccombe: Previously a MSc student examining habitat suitability indexes of the great crested newt. Now a project officer at Freshwater Habitat Trust, UK.
 
Veronika Sommer: Previously a student helper of COMPADRE and COMADRE at the MPIDR. MSc student of Functional Plant Science at the University of Rostock.
 
Dr Heitor Sousa: Previously a PhD student co-supervised with Adriana Malvasio and Guarino Colli investigating demographic resilience of lizard populations. Now a post-doc at the University of Brasília.
 
Alex Tchernev: Previously a MBiol student in the group, where he examined the interactive role of anti-ageing drugs on C. elegans, he's now doing a PhD on mechanisms of ageing at University of Birmingham.
 
Elisa Teichman: Previously a student helper of COMPADRE and COMADRE. Currently working at the Institute of Pharmacology & Toxicology at the University of Rostock, Germany. 
 
Viktoria Thuroczy: Conducted her final MBiol year project in the lab, titled "Comparison of aquatic and terrestrial life history strategies: Adaptations to the higher environmental variability of terrestrial systems".
 
Jemima Tweedale: Previous a research assistant in the group working in RainDrop. She is now finishing her MBiol at Oxford.
 
Dr Matthew Tye: Previously at the University of Central Florida, USA, where he completed his MSc thesis "Effects of habitat, climate and herbivores on the population dynamics of an endemic plant species: Liatris ohlingerae (Asteraceae)" co-advised with Pedro Quintana-Ascencio. Recently finished a PhD at Uppsala University, Sweden, and is currently working in the private sector.
 
Dr Anna Vinton: Previously an NSF postdoctoral fellow in the group evaluating the role of plasticity on eco-evo dynamics of fruit flies. She is now a research fellow at USC.
 
Julia Wille: Previously a student helper of COMPADRE and COMPADRE at the MPIDR. MSc student of Demography at the University of Rostock. Currently working in the private sector.
 
Lucy Williamson: Previously a research assistant helping with DRAGNet work. Currently a research assistant examining microbiota dynamics in rodents at Oxford.
 
Clarice Xu: Previously a visiting student in the group, examining the role of caloric restriction across the tree of life. Now back in the US, finishing her studies at Haverford College
 
Arya Yue: Previously a visiting student in the group examining mistletoe-host dynamics. Now a Erasmus Mundus fellow.
 
Stefan Zeh: Previously at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Germany, where he completed a MSc in Demography at the University of Rostock. He worked as a student helper of COMPADRE and COMADRE during 2012-2015. Currently, he is a consultant in Berlin
 
Other past student helpers of COMPADRE and COMADRE include: Christoph Bein, Erik Brinks, Gabriela Cosma, Gabriel Hoppe, Christin Endert, Elizabeth McCuaig, Jens Runge, Henry Tai, Dr Bonnie Waring (Assistant Professor at Imperial College London), and Angela Zeh (MD PhD)