Birgen Haest joins our team

We would like to welcome Birgen Haest, who has joined our GloBAM team as post-doctoral researcher.

Birgen is a computational ecologist interested in solving complex ecological issues by using novel data analysis techniques and acquisition technologies. In 2007, he obtained a degree in Landscape and Forest Management (Bioscience Engineering), with a specialty in Remote Sensing, at the University of Ghent in Belgium. He initially started his scientific career as a remote sensing – vegetation biodiversity ecologist, and was active in this field for about 7 years. During this time, he was involved in and responsible for several projects developing new methods for terrestrial biodiversity mapping, ecosystem functioning analysis, and vegetation burn characterization.

Four years ago, Birgen decided to shift his focus from the remote sensing - vegetation biodiversity monitoring field to animal ecology research. In September 2015, he started a PhD on the influence of climate change on bird migration phenology at the Institute of Avian Research “Vogelwarte Helgoland” in Wilhelmshaven, Germany. He will defend his PhD thesis early October. You can find his publications here.

At the Swiss Ornithological Institute, Birgen will work as a PostDoc within GloBAM project and the Bird Migration Department. His main focus will be on quantifying and understanding insect migration using radar data.