Dr Stephanie Thomas

I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Biogeography at the University of Bayreuth in Germany. I have been studying insect vectors and vector-borne diseases since more than 10 years. My work is focused on sandflies (Phlebotomus species) and mosquitoes (particularly Aedes and Culex species). As an ecologist, my goal is to use models and experimental approaches to better understand the impact of biodiversity and climate change on mosquitoes and the viruses they transmit, such as dengue, Chikungunya and West Nile virus.

I lead or participate in several interdisciplinary projects with partners from different European countries (ongoing or completed): three European Projects (ECDC, BiodivERsA), three national Projects (Zoonoseplattform, BMBF), and three regional Projects (Bavarian Ministry of Environment, Bavarian Ministry of Health) have been funded and are partly still running.

As study coordinator of Global Change Ecology MSc at the University of Bayreuth, I regularly participate together with the students as observer in plenary meetings of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). I am board member of IBN since 2015.