Plenary speakers

Krystyna Nadachowska-Brzyska has been working on diverse evolutionary biology topics including speciation with gene-flow in amphibians and birds, variation of major histocompatibility genes in several newt species,  historical effective population size changes and many more. Currently, she investigates the influence of  extreme fluctuations in population size of outbreaking species on the dynamics of neutral and adaptive genetic variation using  genome-wide datasets and novel analytical approaches.

Gytis Dudas studies RNA virus evolution at both short (genomic epidemiology) and long (metagenomic virus discovery) timescales.

Lewis Stevens is an evolutionary biologist within Prof. Mark Blaxter group. He is interested in genome evolution in animals, with a particular interest in nematodes.

Michael Westbury’s research focus lies in the production and analysis of genomic data from modern, historical, and palaeontological specimens. Throughout his career he has been studying a variety of (mainly) large mammalian species by utilising population and comparative genomic analyses to better understand their respective evolutionary histories and relationships.