Research Interests

I am an evolutionary biologist at the University of Copenhagen and Natural History Museum of Denmark. My research interests focus on the origins and evolutionary history of biodiversity in polar areas, particularly plants (vascular plants, mosses) and microbial groups (fungi and bacteria). For my research I use herbarium and fresh samples in combination with a range of genetic methods, including population genetic, phylogeographic, molecular dating methods and next-generation sequencing. 

For more information see my personal website: 

https://www.elisebiersma.com

Please feel free to contact me for possible M.Sc. student research projects ([email protected]). 

The evolutionary history of the flora in Greenland:

My research at the University of Copenhagen and Natural History Museum of Denmark sets out to investigate the origin and age of the Greenlandic flora in relation to the island's past glacial history. I am particularly interested in:

• the routes and timings of floral colonisation into and within Greenland
• whether life may have survived in Greenland during the Last Glacial Maximum
• speciation processes related to polar organisms (molecular rates, polyploidy, life cycles etc)

My research is funded by a Carlsberg Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship and a research grant from the Aage V. Jensen Foundation. 

I also work part-time at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) in Cambridge, UK, on similar subjects related to the evolutionary history of Antarctic biota. 

Address:

Natural History Museum of Denmark

Øster Farimagsgade 5, 

Building 7, 1st 7-136

DK-1353 Copenhagen 

Denmark

I am an evolutionary biologist working at the Natural History Museum of Denmark (University of Copenhagen) in Denmark and the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) in the UK. My current research interests focus on the origins and evolutionary history of the biodiversity in the polar regions, particularly plants and microbial groups. 
I have a practical and theoretical background in molecular biology, including laboratory and analytical techniques in population genetics, phylogenetics and biogeography. I am passionate about polar biology and have been active in biological research in the Arctic, Antarctic and sub-Antarctic for over ten years, with fieldwork experience throughout all different polar seasons.

Education/work:

2019–(ongoing): Carlsberg Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Copenhagen, Natural History Museum of Denmark (Denmark)

2016–(ongoing): Postdoc, British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge (UK)

2012–2017: P.h.D. University of Cambridge and British Antarctic Survey (UK)

2010–2012: M.Sc. University in Bergen (Norway), University of Aarhus (Denmark), University of Iceland (Iceland) and the University of the Faroe Islands (Faroe Islands)

2007–2010: B.Sc. University of Groningen (Netherlands) and Uppsala University (Sweden)


Other:

• Postdoctoral Research Associate position with Darwin College, Cambridge
• Team member A Functional Biogeography of the Antarctic (AFBA)
• Team member BIOgeography and biodiversity of GREENland (BIO-GREEN)
• Editor and expert on Antarctic plant taxonomy in Register of Antarctic Species (RAS)
• Reviewer for Ecology Letters​, Global Change Biology, Journal of Biogeography, Polar Science and Arctic Science

Languages: 

• Fluent: Dutch, English; good: Norwegian; Danish; Beginner: German, Swedish​

Grants:

• 2019-2022 (PI): Carlsberg Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship (University of Copenhagen, Natural History Museum of Denmark), The Evolutionary History of the Greenlandic Flora. 
• 2019-2022 (PI): Aage V. Jensen Fond (338.223 DDK) Grønlands Endemiske Plantearter: Evolutionshistorie Og Sårbarhed.
• Participation GreenLAnd Circumnavigation Expedition (GLACE) 2019 
• 2014–2015: co-I NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility (NBAF) Pilot Project Grant (£4,973). Exploiting herbarium resources: a case study on Antarctic endemic plant biogeography. With J. Jackson (BAS). 

Talk/poster prizes:
Laws Prize at the British Antarctic Survey 2020, New Phytologist Meeting, Bristol 2016 (runner-up prize poster), Cambridge third year seminar, Dep. of Plant Sciences, U. of Cambridge 2015 (best talk), Cambridge Centre for Climate Science (CCfCS) Symposium 2015 (best talk), Cambridge first year seminar, Dep. Of Plant Sciences, U. of Cambridge 2013 (best talk)