Hello there!
I am Simon Jacobsen Ellerstrand, and I started my doctoral studies a year ago at MEMEG under the supervision of Bengt Hansson. Most of you have likely seen me around during the years leading up to my current position, as I have during this time finished my master’s and in parallel worked as a field assistant, a lab assistant, and bioinformatics assistant at the department and at CEC.
I am originally from Ängelholm in the northwestern region of Skåne. The journey to my current position has followed a long and winding path, from studies in practical metalworking in high school, to civil engineer studies at the faculty of engineering, and then finally starting my bachelor’s in biology at our department in 2014. Even then, becoming a researcher was not an obvious goal for me until I spent a very inspiring exchange semester in Svalbard.
My doctoral studies will focus on the evolutionary and ecological consequences of genetic sex determination in two very different organism groups. In Sylvioidea birds, I will continue the research done in Bengt’s lab group by studying the evolution of neo-sex chromosomes in relation to demography, sexual selection, and environmental adaptations. In haplodiploid bumblebees, I will set up a new study system for the group. I will try to characterise the sex determining csd gene and study how lowered diversity at this gene will affect and be affected by declining bumblebee populations. For my studies I will mainly work with whole genome sequencing data that is already available, or which I will collect myself in the field or from museum collections.
In my spare time I have many interests that come and go. Spending time outdoors for anything from a walk in the forest to multiple week-long hikes in the mountains are always in fashion. At this very moment, I am especially into winter bathing, wood carving, and Terry Pratchett’s Discworld.
