I have completed my Bachelor in Biology in 2015 and my Master in Marine Biology in 2018 at the University of Bremen (Germany). I have finished my PhD “Cold-water corals in a changing ocean: Effects on their physiological performance” at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven (Germany) in 2022, where I have studied the effects of climate change on different life stages of the cold-water coral Caryophyllia huinayensis in an aquarium experiment. During my PhD, I have also investigated the acclimatisation potential of Desmophyllum dianthus to environmental changes in a reciprocal transplantation experiment in its natural habitat in Comau Fjord (Chile). During my studies and my PhD, I have participated in four expeditions to the Huinay Scientific Field Station in Chile to study cold-water corals under different natural environmental conditions. I have been working as a postdoctoral research associate in the Changing Oceans Group of the School of GeoSciences at the University of Edinburgh from 2022 until 2024. During my postdoc, I have conducted a year-long aquarium experiment with the cold-water coral Lophelia pertusa (syn. Desmophyllum pertusum) at the St Abbs Marine Station to study the combined effects of ocean acidification, warming, desoxygenation and food limitation on its physiology and skeletal dissolution. Since 2024, I am working as a University Teacher in Marine Science at the University of Edinburgh.

My research focusses on the impact of climate change on cold-water corals. I mainly conduct long-term aquarium experiments with multiple environmental drivers to study the effect of future environmental changes on their physiology (e.g. growth and respiration) and skeletal dissolution. I use different methods to study the structure as well as elemental and isotopic composition of coral skeletons, e.g. micro-computerised tomography (µCT), Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron micro probe (EMP), laser ablation multi collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-MC-ICP-MS) and secondary ionization mass spectrometry (SIMS). The results of my reserach will improve our understanding of the effect of future environmental changes on cold-water coral ecosystems.