Vision and Integration Committee of the Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences
Welcome to the homepage of the Vision and Integration Committee of the Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences.
We are a group of researchers with a vision to promote and support a diverse and inclusive environment at the Institute. Specifically, we aim to:
- facilitate inter-departmental cooperation in research and teaching activities;
- encourage communication between graduate students, PhD students and researchers;
- support the integration of international researchers and PhD students;
- organize the annual conference of the Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences;
- promote environmentally friendly behaviour and actions.
Feel free to contact us with any enquiries or questions you have about our activities or upcoming events. You can find the contact details of all committee members below.
Who are we?
Alexander Kmoch
Research Fellow in Geoinformatics
Department of Geography
Alex completed his PhD in Geoinformatics in New Zealand and joined Tartu University in 2017 at the Department of Geography. His research interests include geospatial data management and web- and cloud-based geoprocessing with a particular focus on land use, soils, hydrology, and water quality. He is also experienced in open data standards and web-services for location-based data sharing, modelling workflows, machine learning, and interactive geo-visualisation.
Vanemuise 46
Email: alexander.kmoch@ut.ee
ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4386-4450
UT Lab/working group: https://landscape-geoinformatics.ut.ee
Robert B. Davis
Research Fellow in Entomology
Department of Zoology
Robert came straight from completing his PhD in Evolutionary Biology at the University of York to take up a research post in the Department of Zoology at the University of Tartu in 2010. His research currently focuses on the phylogeny, evolutionary ecology and comparative biology of insects, in particular Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), but his research interests extend into the realms of macroevolution and palaeobiology.
J. Liivi 2 (Oecologicum)
Email: robert.davis@ut.ee
ORCID: 0000-0002-0104-0747
UT Lab/working group: https://zooloogia.ut.ee/en/content/chair-of-entomology
Polina Degtjarenko
Research Fellow in Lichenology
Department of Botany
Polina completed her PhD studies at the University of Tartu in 2016. Then she has been working as Postdoc in Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (ETH domain). Polina studies lichens, enigmatic organisms made up of an intimate symbiotic association of a fungus with microalgae and/or cyanobacteria. Her main research interests are population genetics, bioindication, lichen conservation, functional ecology of lichens, and biodiversity of lichens in general.
J. Liivi 2 (Oecologicum)
Email: polina.degtjarenko@ut.ee
UT Lichen Team: https://eseis.ut.ee/
Folia Cryptogamica Estonica: https://ojs.utlib.ee/index.php/FCE
ETIS: https://bit.ly/3pmw1VD
Mikk Espenberg
Research Fellow in Ecotechnology
Department of Geography
Mikk Espenberg is a microbiologist whose main research interests include environmental microbiology, bioinformatics and metagenomics. His main research topics are related to the study of microbial activity and community structure in different natural habitats and engineered systems. Mikk completed his PhD at the University of Tartu in 2017. He works at the University of Tartu as a research fellow in ecotechnology and at the University of Aberdeen as a research fellow in biological sciences. Mikk leads the Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology Workgroup at the Department of Geography, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences of the University of Tartu.
Vanemuise 46
Email: mikk.espenberg@ut.ee
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0469-6394
UT Lab/working group: https://www.geograafia.ut.ee/en/microlab
Liina Kinkar
Research Fellow in Molecular Parasitology
Department of Zoology
Liina Kinkar is currently a researcher in molecular parasitology at the University of Tartu (UT). She completed her PhD in 2018 in Zoology at UT and undertook post-doctoral training as a visiting scientist at the University of Melbourne from 2019 to 2021. Her research focuses on socio-economically important parasites (particularly cestodes and trematodes); current projects aim to unravel the extent and nature of nuclear genomic variation in some of these pathogens, to better understand their epidemiology, ecology and evolution.
J. Liivi 2 (Oecologicum)
Email: liina.kinkar@ut.ee
CV: https://www.etis.ee/CV/Liina_Kinkar/eng
Kaarel Mänd
Research Fellow in Geochemistry
Department of Geology
Kaarel did his Geology MSc at the University of Tartu and a geochemistry PhD at University of Alberta, Canada, finished in 2021. Since then, he has been a Research Fellow at the Department of Geology in Tartu. His research focuses on reconstructing ancient environments in the Paleozoic and Precambrian times using chemical markers in sedimentary rocks, especially as they relate to the changing levels of oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere and its coevolution with life.
Ravila 14a (Chemicum)
Email: kaarel.mand@ut.ee
Website: https://kaarelmand.github.io/
Kärt Paiste
Research Fellow in Geology
Department of Geology
In between completing her undergraduate studies and her current position as a Research Fellow at the University of Tartu, Kärt obtained a geochemistry PhD in 2018 from the University of Tromsø, Norway, and received post-doctoral training under the MSCA global fellowship from Washington University in St Louis, MO, USA (2020 – 2022). She is part of an international research team investigating Earth’s early history, where her focus lies in disentangling chemical signatures of biogenic and abiogenic origin in ancient sedimentary rocks and how such signatures were generated in the first place, transferred into the rock record, and modified over geologic time.
Ravila 14a (Chemicum)
Email: kart.paiste@ut.ee
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0997-8860
Blog: https://rockarchive.org
Siim-Kaarel Sepp
Research Fellow in Plant Ecology
Department of Botany
After defending his thesis on plant-mycorrhizal interactions in 2020, Siim-Kaarel has been working in the Plant Ecology Lab in the Department of Botany on “all things soil microbiota”. His research currently spans from global macroecology to the effects of agricultural practices on soil microorganisms, with a particular interest in exploring different avenues to approach the questions from the data analysis side.
J. Liivi 2 (Oecologicum)
Email: siim-kaarel.sepp@ut.ee
ORCID: 0000-0003-2906-4609
UT Lab/working group: plantecology.ut.ee
Aurele Toussaint
Research Fellow in Macroecology
Department of Botany
My main research interest is investigating questions related to functional diversity of vertebrates and plants in a context of global change. More specifically, I am investigating the combined effect of loss of threatened species and introduction of non-native vertebrates at large scales. To this aim, I am developing statistical models, combining development of biodiversity indices in R software and its application on traits and spatial databases. During my PhD thesis, my scientific activity focused on the functional diversity of freshwater fish at the global scale and the role of human activities.
J. Liivi 2 (Oecologicum)
Email: aurele.toussaint@ut.ee
Website: https://aureletoussaint.github.io/website/index.html
