​​I studied biology because I’ve always been thrilled by the smartness of nature and the diverse and creative approaches used in research in order to explore the complex processes shaping such extraordinary variety. I finally ended up as a coral reef ecologist with interests in reef dynamics, resilience and coral physiology.

I earned my master’s degree in aquatic tropical ecology at the University of Bremen, Germany, studying the consequences of pollution on a coral reef along the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. During my PhD at the Leibniz Center for Tropical Marine Ecology in Bremen, Germany, I was working on the effects of large amplitude internal waves on coral reefs along the Similan Islands, Thailand, and on anthropogenic impacts such as fertilization and dynamite fishing on the coral reefs of Hainan, China. Afterwards, I gained one year experience as a Postdoc at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven, Germany, working on bentho-pelagic coupling in Antarctic sponge reefs.

I came to KAUST because of the great opportunity to study the unique Red Sea coral reef ecosystem hands-on. Here, I am working on the ecological aspects of various projects to investigate reef functioning on small and large temporal and spatial scales.​