I studied Molecular Biology and Genetics at Istanbul Technical University. During my undergraduate studies I became interested in the field of Ecology and Evolution and did internships on animal behaviour in Switzerland and Ireland. I then went on to pursue a 2-year research Master’s in Evolutionary Biology (MEME) funded by the European Union. I worked on projects using computer simulations to investigate evolution of social complexity and human cooperation. I also did behavioural economics experiments on how children learn social norms by copying others. After my Master’s, I pursued my dream of doing fieldwork and investigating human societies. I did my PhD at UCL, researching cultural evolution and behavioural adaptations in Pygmy hunter-gatherers in the Congo. During my PhD, I was part of an inter-disciplinary Hunter-Gatherer Resilience team funded by the Leverhulme Trust. I obtained a postdoctoral research fellowship from British Academy after my PhD. I am currently working as a British Academy research fellow and lecturer in Evolutionary Anthropology and Evolutionary Medicine at UCL.
My research focuses on applied marine ecology and environmental management, particularly with coastal fish assemblages. Research interests include fish ecology, environmental monitoring and assessment methodology and individual-based models.
Aquatic ecology, Socio-ecological fisheries systems
Using modeling and simulation to support the development of resilient infrastructures
Positions held today:
• Associate Professor for Geoinformatics and Ecology at the University of Salzburg (since 2017)
• UNIGIS Program Director (since 2020)
• Head of the Research Group “Spatial Simulation” (since 2013)
Major academic milestones:
• Assistant Professor, Department for Geoinformatics, University of Salzburg (2013-2017)
• Associate Faculty in the FWF Doctoral College “GIScience” (2013-2017)
• Director of Studies UNIGIS MSc distance learning programs, University of Salzburg (2012-2020)
• PhD at the University of Innsbruck on ecological modelling (2011)
• Research Assistant Austrian Academy of Sciences, GIScience Institute (2007-2011)
• Magistra in Ecology, Univ. of Innsbruck (2001) and MSc in GIS, Univ. of Edinburgh (2006)
Spatially-explicit simulation modelling of complex, ecological systems: * the added value of spatially-explicit modelling * Hybrid agent-based and system-dynamics modelling in ecology * Agent-based models, Cellular Automata
Grant Snitker, M.A., is a doctoral candidate in archaeology at Arizona State University and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. His research focuses on prehistoric uses of controlled fire, settlement history, and environmental change. Snitker approaches these topics through geoarchaeology, archaeological survey methods, GIS modeling, and landscape/fire ecology. He currently works in Spain investigating the origins and evolution of early farming communities (7,700–4,500 cal. BP) and how they used fire to create productive agricultural landscapes. Snitker also applies his knowledge of archaeology and fire ecology as an archaeological resource advisor on wildland fire incidents here in Arizona. He works alongside firefighters to protect archaeological sites from wildfires and potentially destructive firefighting activities.
Envrionmental Archaeology, Fire Ecology, GIS, Agent-based modeling, Geoarchaeology