Meet the team and our research interests
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Tom Artois
Head of the team | Full professor
The study of biodiversity learns us more about ourselves than about the organisms we are studying.

Patrick Reygel
Associate professor
Describing new marine flatworms, giving them a name and figuring out their relation with other excisting flatworms to reveal some evolutionary...

Maarten Vanhove
Assistant professor
Evolutionary parasitology is a prime playground to study biodiversity mechanisms. We also transfer biodiversity science to global South...

Nikol Kmentová
Postdoctoral researcher
Potential of parasites as tags for host population structure, demographic history and introduction pathways

Martijn Bollen
PhD student
Many generations of ecologists have searched for patterns explaining the distribution of species, with modern statistics this search has become...

Armando Cruz Laufer
PhD student
Parasites host specificity can vary considerably even at genus level. This study will investigate the evolutionary mechanisms causing these...

Yander Diez Garcia
PhD student
Description of the new taxa of marine Rhabdocoela from Cuba and other tropical areas, with emphasis in the phylogeny of Koinocystididae and...

Mare Geraerts
PhD student
Using tiny parasites as a magnifying glass to unravel the introduction history of the invasive Nile tilapia and studying their impact on local...

Stefan Gobert
PhD student
Among the sand grains of the beach and the ocean floor there exists a ealth of biodiversity waiting to be explored. By describing and catalogueing...

Jeffrey Jacobs
PhD student
Can green roofs compensate for the loss of biodiversity in an urbanizing world?

Michiel Jorissen
PhD student
Invasive species are species that are introduced into new regions and have a detrimental effect on the local ecosystem. They are one of the major...

Céline Kowalczyk
PhD student
Investigating patterns in Nightjar genomes within and among populations to make inferences about their ecology and evolution.

Leona Milec
PhD student
Population genomics and phylogeography of freshwater sardines in Central African lakes

Fortunate Mafeta Phaka
PhD student
Exploring the complex link between biological and cultural diversity is a good way to find ecologically and socially just conservation solutions...



Michiel Lathouwers
PhD student
How is the migration ecology of European Nightjars and other migratory bird species affected by global climate- and landuse change?

Thomas Van Dijck
PhD student
Isolated urban green structures: platforms for a mind-blowing biodiversity.

Toon Willems
Researcher
The possibility to save farmland birds is hidden in the right agri-environmental management.

Natalie Beenaerts
Guest staff member
As the project leader of the Field Research Centre of UHasselt I try to see, start up and mentor research and educational projects related to the...

Ruben Evens
Guest staff member
I’m studying the whereabouts of birds throughout their annual cycle. Using modern tracking technologies, I investigate their spatial use and...

Natascha Steffanie
Specialised laboratory technician
I provide technical support for the biodiversity and toxicology group.

Ria Vanderspikken
Specialised laboratory technician
I provide administrative support for the biodiversity and toxicology group.