Our PhD students:

Maximilian Dreer

Supervisor: Christa Schleper

Thesis topic: Biofilm formation and transformation of Ammonia Oxidizing Archaea

Marina Monserrat Díez 

Angus Hilts

Walter Hofmann

Anastasiia Padalko

Supervisor: Filipa Sousa

Topic: Metabolic traits prediction and validation in Archaea

Barbara Reischl

Hayk Palabikyan

Supervisor: Simon Rittmann

Topic: Converting carbon dioxide into bioplastics

Thomas Pribasnig

Supervisor: Schleper Christa

Topic: Energy and carbon metabolism of Nitrososphaeria

Val Karavaeva (they/he)

Supervisor: Filipa Sousa

Topic: Rings of life and where to find them: evolution of tetrapyrroles

Nicole Catherina Krause

Sebastian Valerio Aymerich

Michaela Berensmeier

Guillem Coll García

Tina Palme

Alexandra Haselmair

Supervisor: Martin Zuschin

Topic: Historical ecology of the northern Adriatic sea: spatial and temoral distribution of the high biomass epifauna

Angelina Ivkic

Supervisor: Martin Zuschin

Topic: Red Sea coral reefs: A Pleistocene - Recent comparison

Petra Lukeneder

Supervisor: Martin Zuschin

Topic: Morphometry, taphonomy and geochemistry of late Triassic coleoids from the Polzberg Konservat-Lagerstätte near Lunz am See (Carnian, Reingraben shales, Lower Austria).

Giulia Marchioro

Philipp Pröts

Supervisor: Jörg Ott

Topic: Morphological adaptations to the symbiotic life-style of Stilbonematinae (Desmodoroidea, Nematoda)

Daniel Martinovic Saavedra

Supervisor: Federico Baltar

Topic: The role of enzyme promiscuity on organic phosphorus cycling in the ocean

Marilena Heitger

Supervisor: Gerhard Herndl

Topic: Shedding light on dark ocean’s detrital particles: origin, composition, and age

Teresa Maria Rosa Winter

Dmytro Spriahailo

Isabella Leonhard

Michaela Berensmeier

Florian Danzinger

Tobias Schernhammer

Alexandra Haselmair

Supervisor: Martin Zuschin

Topic: Historical ecology of the northern Adriatic sea: spatial and temoral distribution of the high biomass epifauna

Johannes Hausharter

Supervisor: Stefan Dullinger

Topic: The role of micro-climate and micro-environment for population dynamics of alpine plants

Norbert Helm

Supervisor: Stefan Dullinger, Karl Hülber, Dietmar Moser, Johannes Wessely

Topic: Linking the micro- with the macroscale in alpine plant ecology

Angelina Ivkic

Supervisor: Martin Zuschin

Topic: Red Sea coral reefs: A Pleistocene - Recent comparison

Ekin Kaplan

Supervisor: Franz Essl

Topic: Temporal Changes and underlying Drivers of the Richness and Composition of Eu-rope’s Native and Non-Native Flora

Chytrý Kryštof

Supervisor: Stefan Dullinger

Topic: Effects of microclimate on distribution patterns of high alpine flora 

Elias Nikolas Kapitany

Jennifer Hennenfeind

Ana Isabel Martinez Richart

Rym S. Nouioua

Supervisor: Stefan Dullinger and Bea Maas

Topic: Birds, bats and related ecosystem services in a European land-use context: linking conservation knowledge, agricultural practices and socio-ecological perspectives

Clemens Pachschwöll

Supervisor: Franz Essl

Topic: Detecting ‘invaders in disguise’  DNA barcoding of invasive plant species in Austria

Sonia Rashid

Supervisor: Stefan Dullinger

Topic: Modelling climate-driven range changes of European butterflies and their host plants - do transient dynamics matter? 

Parvin Safiyan Böldaji

Supervisor: Stefan Dullinger

Topic: Habitat suitability of the Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) and its primary prey species in north-eastern Iran

Anna Schertler

Supervisor: Franz Essl

Topic: Macroecological perspectives in invasion biology –  examining drivers of fungal and plant invasion patterns and processes

Tom Vorstenbosch

Supervisor: Stefan Dullinger, Franz Essl

Topic: Modelling the future of biological invasions in the sub-Antarctic under climate change

Pablo Aycart Lazo

Supervisor: Bea Maas and Stefan Dullinger

Topic: Functional diversity and interactions of birds, bats and arthropods in tropical cacao agroforestry systems: linking biodiversity conservation and ecosystem service management

Gilles Colling

Jeannette Becker

Leo Capari

Supervisor: Harald Wilfing

Topic: Anatomy of challenge driven R&I: The cases of energy transition and demographic change

Aigerim Rymbekova

Supervisor: Martin Kuhlwilm

Topic:  Reconstructing the genetic history of Central Eurasia

Tobias Göllner

Supervisor: Martin Fieder, Helmut Schaschl

Topic: The Peopling of Asia: Genetic Ancestry, Population Structure, Demography and Natural Selection

Sonja Kuderer

Supervisor: Martin Fieder, Sylvia Kirchengast

Topic: An interdisciplinary approach: the co-evolution of handedness, sensation seeking and anxiety

Savannah Schaufler

Supervisor: Harald Wilfing, Tatiana Konrad

Topic: Sustainability Reset: Questions of Behavioral and Cultural Changes Revealed by COVID-19

Katarina Matiasek

Supervisor: Harald Wilfing

Topic: Incorporations. Stereo Photography in Anthropology

Victoria Oberreiter

Supervisor: Ron Pinhasi, Thomas Rattei

Topic: Mineralogical Preservation of the Human Biome from the Depth of Time (MINERVA)

Inga Stolbovaya

Supervisor: Fred Bookstein, Gerhard Weber

Topic: 3D morphometric analysis of the human cranium for the investigation of posterior discrepancy

Constanze Hedwig Schattke

Supervisor: Harald Wilfing, Sabine Eggers

Topic: Witnesses of Violence? Combining Bioarchaeology and Provenance to research violence in the acquisition contexts of human remains in the Department of Anthropology, Natural History Museum Vienna from 1857 – 1935

Marcel Seifert

Supervisor: Harald Wilfing

Topic: Walk It Like You Talk It: Closing the Value-Action Gap in Climate Action with Experimental Evidence

Emily Pigott

Supervisor: Thomas Higham

Topic: Re-assessing human and faunal remains from the Middle to the Upper Palaeolithic archaeological sites within the Crimean Peninsula, using more recent protocols of radiocarbon dating.

Thomas Beard

Magdalena T. Srienc-Ściesiek

Supervisor: Sylvia Kirchengast, Sabine Ladstätter

Topic: Lifeways of the early medieval Slavs: A bioarchaeological examination of diet and health based on the human remains from three cemeteries north and south of the Karawanken Mountains

Paul Klostermann

Supervisor: Sabine Eggers

Topic: Adolescence in the Early Medieval Age. A Bioarchaeological Analysis of Pubertal Timing in Central Europe.

Elöd Úry

Supervisor: Gerhard Weber

Topic: A 4D study of the mandibular guiding system: An integrated geometric morphometric approach 

Brina Zagorc

Supervisor: Maria Ivanova-Bieg, Ron Pinhasi

Topic: Sex-specific variations in the health status of subadult Central European skeletal populations during Antiquity and Early Medieval times

Liesa Geppner

Supervisor: Maja Henjakovic, Harald Wilfing

Topic: Micro- and nanoplastic: Methodology for extraction and detection of plastic particles from human blood and mammalian tissue.

Arne Bielke

Konstantina Cheshmedzhieva

Michelle Hämmerle

Heather Chamberlain-Irwin

Arnaud Begat

Supervisor: Jürgen Kriwet

Topic: Mesozoic elasmobranch fish (sharks, skates, and rays) ecology and diversity patterns before extinction events

Julian Bibermair

Supervisor: Thomas Schwaha

Topic: Evolution of phylactolaemate bryozoans

Alice Frisinghelli

Cristian Camilo Barrera Grijalba

Willy De Mattia

Supervisor: Elisabeth Haring, Gerhard Steiner

Topic: Anatomical revision of Alopiinae (Gastropoda: Pulmonata: Clausiliidae): TesIng genital characters in clausiliid systematics

Margret Eckhard

Supervisor: Andreas Wanninger

Topic: Glue characterization in centipedes

Iris Fischer

Supervisor: Elisabeth Haring

Topic: Ecological status of aquatic habitats in Vienna: critical comparison of classical monitoring and molecular genetic methods to assess species distribution and composition of the dragonfly fauna

June Feliciano Fronda Ordonez

Supervisor: Tim Wollesen

Topic: Neuronal cell type development in the chaetognath Spadella cephaloptera

Sophie Greistorfer

Supervisor: Gerhard Steiner

Topic: Glowing mucus; Characterisation of the unique defence secretion of Latia neritoides (Gastropoda)

Anna-Maria Sabine Salgado-Gschwandner

Supervisor: Robert Ptacnik

Topic: Remoteness and size as determinants of Lake Ecosystem stability (RemoLake) 

Manuel A. Staggl

Anna-Chiara Barta

Mildred Jessica Johnson

Supervisor: Thomas Schwaha

Topic: The life cycle and systematics of the boring ctenostome bryozoan families Immergentiidae and Spathiporidae 

Claudia Klimpfinger

Giulia Marchioro

Katharina Mason

Supervisor: Elisabeth Haring

Topic: When genetics contradicts morphology: How does this affect our species concepts? 

Katharina Wechselberger

Supervisor: Harald Krenn

Topic: Analysis of the main factors influencing the behavior of wireworms (Coleoptera: Elateridae) as a basis for the optimization of available crop protection measures on arable land 

Gudrun Schwarze

Supervisor: Andreas Wanninger

Topic: Evolution and Development of worm snails (Vermetidae) 

Pamela Alessandra Baur

Supervisor: Stephan Glatzel

Topic: Greenhouse gas exchanges of special wetland ecosystems in Austria

Pratiksha Acharya

Supervisor: Christian Griebler, Katrin Attermeyer, Simon Vitecek

Topic: Influence of resource and consumer diversity on the quality and microbial processing of fine particulate organic matter during leaf breakdown in streams

Constanze Englisch

Anna-Maria Sabine Gschwandner

Supervisor: Robert Ptacnik

Topic: Remoteness and size as determinants of Lake Ecosystem stability (RemoLake)

Alice Retter

Supervisor: Christian Griebler, Fede Baltar, Henrik Nilsson

Topic: Vulnerability and response of microbial groundwater communities in alpine regions to anthropogenic impacts and climate change.

Francine Mathieu

Supervisor: Martin Kainz

Topic: Temporal dynamics of plankton food webs and sediments of young gravel pit lakes. 

Sonja Hoxha

Stefano Mari

Supervisor: Martin Kainz, Libor Zavorka

Topic: The importance of dietary omega 3 fatty acids for development of cognitive skills in wild fishes through the lens of Tingbergen’s four 

Filip-Paul Boanca

John Lester Viscara Pide

Supervisor: Christian Griebler

Topic: Intrinsic potential and activity of nitrate turnover examined for different hydrogeological aquifer settings

Helena Cvetkovic

Supervisor: Christian Griebler

Topic: Deciphering fluvial methane ebullition patterns and environmental drivers by viewing streams as heterogeneous landscapes 

Christoph Novotny

Isha Joshi

Supervisor: Peter Schlögelhofer

Topic: Uncovering the Interrelation of DNA damage and Pathogen Response Pathways

Lisa Rouressol

Andreas Denner

Supervisor: Ulrich Technau

Topic: Characterization of putative stem cell marker genes in Nematostella vectensis

Patricio Ferrer Murguia

Supervisor: Ulrich Technau

Topic: Red Sea coral reefs: A Pleistocene - Recent comparison

Lubna Younas

Supervisor: Qi Zhou

Topic: Molecular mechanisms of tissue-specific dosage compensation in Drosophila species 

Paul Knabl

Supervisor: Grigory Genikhovich

Topic: BMP signaling in the cnidarian germ line

Koto Kon

Supervisor: Oleg Simakov

Topic: Elucidating the role of transposable element activity in hydra regeneration

Oliver Link

Supervisor: Ulrich Technau

Topic: On the origin and evolution of striated muscle cells: Insights into muscle cell transcriptomes from striated muscles of cnidarian jellyfish

Sanjay Narayanaswamy

Supervisor: Ulrich Technau

Topic: Assessing senescence in the regenerative and long lived Nematostella vectensis

Fariha Naz Apon

Supervisor: Peter Schlögelhofer, Marie-Theres Hauser

Topic: Functions of cell wall integrity sensors in plant stress responses

Iro Pierides

Yovita Astuti Djohan

Supervisor: Stefanie Wienkoop

Topic: Stress-induced Pea-omics: Messire vs. Protecta

Shuang Zhang

Supervisor: Wolfram Weckwerth

Topic: Spatial Variability of Wheat Grain Protein Quality and Its Physiological Mechanism in Response to Different Ratios of Basal Nitrogen Fertilizer to Topdressing Nitrogen Fertilizer

Maryam Alsadat Zekri

Supervisor: Ingeborg Lang, Daniel Tholen

Topic: Water’s gateway to heaven 3D imaging and modeling of transient stomatal responses in plant leaves under dynamic environments

Hannes Kramml

Supervisor: Wolfram Weckwerth

Topic: Long-term implications of ancient polyploids: CAM as a key evolutionary innovation in Clusia spp.

Madeleine Schnurer

Supervisor: Verena Ibl

Topic: Characterization of TOL proteins in barley

Carlos A. Pérez Rízquez

Supervisor: Stefanie Wienkoop

Topic: Underlying mechanism(s) of the symbioprotein ferritin on legume root nodule formation and drought stress

Julian Preiner

Supervisor: Stefanie Wienkoop

Topic: Changes in C/N-metabolic processes and heavy metal stress response of leguminous plants (Glycine max) and their symbiotic partners during tungsten (W) and olybdenum (Mo) induced stress: An integrated proteomic, metabolomic and physiologic assessment. 

Stefan Plott

Supervisor: Wolfram Weckwerth, Verena Ibl

Topic: "ESCRT-Proteins and TOR as Regulators of Protein Turnover in Barley Grains"

Elisa Montrucchio

Caroline Ivesic

Luigi Schillaci

Kaijie Liang

Supervisors: Wolfram Weckwerth, Steffen Waldherr

Topic: Genome Prediction and Functional Analysis in Large Germplasm Resources based on Omics Data and GWAS

Teerna Saugata Khastgir

Supervisor: Ovidiu Paun

Topic: Comparative genomics and population genomics of the adaptive radiation of Diospyros on New Caledonia, a biodiversity hotspot

Sadia Sabrina Alam

Supervisor: Andreas Bachmair

Topic: The role of post-translational modifications (PTMs) in plant stress resilience

Johannes Maximilian Braunisch

Supervisor: Gerald Schneeweis

Topic: What determines distribution limits of range-restricted species in high-mountain habitats?

Lukas Dirr

Supervisor: Friðgeir Grímsson

Topic: The Application of Citizen-Science and Crowd-Sourced Data in the Field of Aerobiology

Xieting Wu

Christian Geier

Supervisor: Friðgeir Grímsson

Topic: Flower-insect interactions in the Eocene to Oligocene of Central Europe

Bushra Ijaz

Vildana Kapetanovic

Supervisor: Hanna Schneeweiss

Topic: Diversity and evolution of chili peppers, the genus Capsicum (Solanaceae)

Karen Kölzer

Supervisor: Martina Weber

Topic: Authenticity of urban honey: Specific challenges for palynology and how diversification of methods can overcome them

Constantin Kopper

Supervisor: Jürg Schönenberger, Agnes Dellinger

Topic: Pollinations syndromes, pollinator shifts and floral evolution in Melastomataceae

Anna-Sophie Hawranek

Clemens Pachschwöll

Supervisor: Franz Essl, Gerald Schneeweiss

Topic: Detecting ‘invaders in disguise’  DNA barcoding of invasive plant species in Austria

Martin Rose

Supervisor: Michael Kiehn

Topic: Impact of trade restrictions on species survival

Benjamin Seth Lazarus

Francesca Beclin

Amin Ghane 

Nina Kraus

Supervisor: Brian Metscher

Topic: Hemodynamic influences on heart morphogenesis of the developing chick outflow tract

Katharina Stefke

Supervisor: Philipp Mitteröcker, Frank Zachos

Topic: Morphometric and non-metric analyses in intraspecific variation in the red deer (Cervus elaphus) and their bearing upon evolutionary history and taxonomy

Inga Stolbovaya

Supervisor: Fred Bookstein, Gerhard Weber

Topic: 3D morphometric analysis of the human cranium for the investigation of posterior discrepancy

Barbara Waringer

Supervisor: Christian H. Schulze

Topic: Clutch predation risk in ground nesting birds: effects of predator identity, habitat features and landscape structure.