Vanessa Mata wins the PhD Prize in Ecology 2021

CIBIO-InBIO researcher Vanessa Mata is the winner of the 2021 edition of the PhD Prize in Ecology - Fundação Amadeu Dias, an initiative of the Portuguese Society of Ecology (SPECO) that rewards the writer of the best PhD thesis in any area of Ecology, defended in Portuguese Universities, regardless of the nationality of the candidates.

 

The award-winning research was conducted as part of the BIODIV Doctoral Programme and involved the development of a metabarcoding tool which can be used to study interactions between species. The technique enables the detection of subtle intra- and inter-specific variations in the diet of bats, allowing a better understanding of the network of predator-prey interactions between bats and agroforestry pests.

 

Vanessa Mata highlights the importance of this award as "recognition of my work and that of my supervisors, that will hopefully help my career as a young researcher".