Primary fields of research

In the K Rousk lab (Ecosystem Ecology), we are interested in the abiotic and biotic controls of nitrogen (N) fixation in moss-cyanobacteria associations. This ecosystem function is especially important in pristine ecosystems like boreal forests and subarctic tundra. Cyanobacteria colonzing dominant moss species in these habitats contribute fundamentally to the ecosystem N pool. My research goal is to identify the factors that promote and inhibit N fixation in mosses, and to define the relationship between moss and colonizing cyanobacteria.

I am very honoured, humbled and happy to have been awarded an ERC Starting Grant (2021-2026), SYMBIONIX, to unravel the relationship mosses and colonizing cyanobacteria share and to venture into understudied ecosystems. Our research is further supported by a project grant (2025-2027) from the Independent Research Fund Denmark (Dff) focussing on the symbiosis between mosses and colonizing cyanobacteria. 

CV

ORCID                                     0000-0003-3140-9864

CONTACT                               +46 70 5290367; [email protected]

EDUCATION

2013 (April 1^st)              PhD in Forest Ecology, Bangor University, UK

2009 (April 1^st)             Master of Science, Ecology, Marburg University, Germany

RESEARCH FIELDS  

Ecology, nitrogen fixation, cyanobacteria, mosses, symbioses, biogeochemistry, ecosystem ecology

POSITIONS

2023 ­–  Associate Professor 

Dept. of Biology, Univ. of Copenhagen (UCPH), Copenhagen, Denmark 

2019 – 2022      Tenure-Track Assistant Professor

2016 – 2019       Assistant Professor 

02.2016 – 08.2016         Postdoctoral researcher

Center for Permafrost (CENPERM), Dept. of Geosciences and Natural Resources, UCPH

01.2014 – 01.2016          Postdoctoral researcher

Dept. of Biology, UCPH

06.2013 – 12.2013          Postdoctoral researcher

Microbial Ecology, Dept. of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden. 

12.2009 – 12.2012          PhD researcher

SUPERVISION AND TEACHING 

Participated in pedagogic Course for University Teachers (“Universitetspædagogikum”), UCPH, 2015–2016. Supervision of PhD students, UCPH, 2018. Leading Research – A leadership course, UCPH, 2019.

Current teaching: BSc course Plant Ecophysiology (course responsible); MSc courses Advanced Ecology (course responsible) Terrestrial Ecosystem Processes and Global Change;  Climate Change and Biogeochemical Cycles; 

COMMISSION OF TRUST - ACADEMIC SERVICE

Reviewer for > 25 academic journals such as PNAS, New Phytologist, ISME

Consulting Editor for Plant and Soil (2019 – 2024). 

Editorial Board Member for European Journal of Soil Biology (2021 – 2024).

Editorial advisory board member for Global Change Biology (2023 – ). 

Guest editor for special issue “Microbial nitrogen processes in aquatic and terrestrial environments” in Trends in Microbiology and iScience (2024).

Grant Reviewer: The National Science Foundation (NSF), USA; Geoverbund ABC/J, Germany; Canadian Research Council, Canada; US Army; Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany. ERC-Starting Grants

Examination board: PhD theses: D. Warshan. Supervisor: U. Rasmussen, Stockholm University, Sweden, Oct. 2017; W. Sawangproh, Supervisor: N. Cronberg, Lund University, Sweden, May 2019; A. Neubauer, Supervisor: Peter Szövenyi, University of Zürich, Switzerland, December 2023. S. Li, Supervisor: Linda-Maria D. Mårtensson, SLU, Sweden, Nov. 2024

Member of the Strategic Research Board, Dept. of Biology, UCPH, 2020 – 2023

Member of the Faculty Board, Dept. of Biology, UCPH, 2023 – 2025

Member of the Ecology Cluster Steering Committee, Dept. of Biology, UCPH, 2023 – 2025

Selected for the program "UCPH-Forward" - a talent program for excellence (2023-2024). 

Member of the Academic Council, SCIENCE, UCPH, 2025-2028

Member of Society of Fellows, UCPH, 2024-