Contacts

People

  • Forest Risk Research Centre
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

- Joyce Kilmer, 1913

Rooted in science. Occasionally lost in the woods. Meet FRRC

FISC Team
Head of the Centre – forest disturbance, ecosystem modelling, knowledge transfer, outreach

Tomáš Hlásny

Responsible for integrating FRRC within university environment, specializing in forest risk management, climate change impacts on forests and adaptation strategies and ecosystem modelling.
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Deputy Head of Department, forest entomology and protection, disturbance ecology

Roman Modlinger

Focuses on the ecology and management of bark beetle disturbances, with emphasis on the spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus). He integrates field entomology with remote sensing and advanced monitoring tools to improve early detection of forest pest outbreaks.
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Chief Scientist, Forest Invasion Synthesis Centre – Forest entomologist, expert on forest biological invasions

Andrew “Sandy” Liebhold

Provides scientific leadership and vision, drawing on decades of research and international collaboration to shape FISC as a global centre of excellence in forest invasion science.
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Senior Researcher - Biological Invasions, patterns, drivers and management

Laura A. Meyerson

Contributes to synthesis efforts on global patterns, impacts, and management of biological invasions. Supports conceptual and large-scale comparative research, strengthens international collaboration, and helps integrate ecological evidence into decision-making and policy frameworks addressing invasive species.
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Katarína Merganičová
Postdoctoral researcher – ecosystem modelling, forest management, climate change impacts and adaptation

Katarína Merganičová

Calibration, validation and application of models of vegetation dynamics within forestry environment.
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Postdoctoral Researcher - Specialist in plant ecology with a particular emphasis on hybridisation processes

Kateřina Berchová

Specialist in applied and landscape ecology and botany. At FISC her research focuses on plant ecology, with a particular emphasis on hybridisation processes and landscape drivers that shape the distribution of invasive species. A key aspect of her work lies at the science–practice interface, where she actively facilitates the transfer of scientific knowledge.
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Postdoctoral Researcher - Forest Disturbance Ecology & Remote Sensing

Mária Potterf

Her research focuses on forest disturbance ecology, bark beetle dynamics, forest resilience and post-disturbance recovery. She combines fieldwork, remote sensing and spatial analyses to understand how forests recover after disturbance, how management shapes regeneration, and whether newly established forests are better suited to future climate conditions.
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Postdoctoral Researcher - Entomologist specializing in invasion ecology of insects

Richard Mally

Conducts research on traits and drivers of global insect invasions. His research focuses on invasive insects, their biogeography, host plant associations and feeding guilds, and drivers facilitating their spread to, and establishment in invaded areas. As Data Steward also takes care of all things Data.
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Postdoctoral Researcher - Ecosystem modelling, forest water and carbon cycles

Laura Dobor

Her research focuses on ecosystem modelling, climate change impacts and forest disturbance dynamics. She uses modelling approaches to study forest resilience, post-disturbance carbon dynamics and management effects, with current work examining drought impacts on the carbon–water cycle in European forests.
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Postdoctoral Researcher - Applied economics

Edward Whitney

Contributes economic perspectives to research on biological invasions, focusing on how socio-economic systems interact with ecological dynamics. His work supports synthesis efforts that integrate ecological data with livelihoods, policy impacts, and economic modelling to improve understanding and management of invasion-related challenges.
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Postdoctoral Researcher - Large scale invasion patterns

Shuya Fan

Contributes to synthesis efforts in global plant invasion ecology, focusing on large-scale patterns, trait-based mechanisms, and cross-regional comparisons of naturalized species. Helps advance understanding of the processes driving biological invasions.
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Postdoctoral Researcher - Remote Sensing, forest disturbance and recovery mapping

Prosper Washaya

Remote sensing and geoinformatics applied to forests. Works with radar and optical satellite data, Sentinel-1 coherence time series, Sentinel-2 spectral indices, and embeddings from Earth observation foundation models, to detect where forests have been disturbed, when the change happened, and what is growing back. His interest is in making these signals accurate and repeatable enough that forest managers, not only researchers, can act on them.
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Doctoral Researcher - Ecosystem modelling, forest biodiversity

Akanksha Thapa

Her research focuses on forest ecology, biodiversity conservation and ecosystem resilience. She combines field data and ecological modelling to study how climate change, natural disturbances and forest management shape biodiversity, forest structure and resilience.
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Doctoral Researcher – Ecosystem modelling, forest biodiversity

Marco Baldo

His research focuses on forest ecosystem dynamics, resilience and management under climate change. He uses process-based forest models to study how management, disturbances and ecological interactions shape forest functioning, multifunctionality and long-term recovery, including the recovery of biodiversity in Central European forests
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Doctoral Researcher - Ecosystem modelling, tree mortality, forest and drought

Agnish Kumar Das

His work uses process-based models to study forest disturbances and tree mortality, evaluates how well such models capture novel disturbance regimes, and traces the consequences of these disturbances for forest ecosystem services.
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Doctoral Researcher - Remote Sensing, forest disturbance and recovery

Karim Md Fazlul

His research focuses on satellite-based mapping of forest structure, recovery, and management following large-scale disturbance. He combines geospatial foundation models such as AlphaEarth Foundations with machine learning, UAV imagery, and field reference data to map vegetation height and forest recovery attributes and to classify post-disturbance management typologies from field-plot networks. This work supports post-disturbance forest management and resilience assessment across Central Europe.
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Doctoral Researcher – Global synthesis of insect associations on non-native plants

Arka Pal

His research focuses on the global synthesis of insect associations on non-native plants. He's developing AI techniques to compile a database of herbivorous insects associated with non-native plants, and analyse this database to identify drivers of native and non-native insect richness on non-native plants in different world regions.
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Doctoral Researcher - Population genetics

Michaela Medzihorská

Contributes to analyses of species discoveries and discovery effort. Works on compiling a database to examine how phylogenetic distance relates to herbivory on non-native trees.
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Doctoral Researcher - Ecological research on biological invasions.

Aditya Ganesh

Contributes to global-scale analysis of tree invasions and their interactions with insect herbivores, providing critical analysis for understanding risks associated with non-native forest plantations.
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Doctoral Researcher - Forest damage patterns

Michal Neugebauer

PhD student focusing primarily on damage patterns in forest stands, with particular emphasis on forest regeneration following large-scale disturbances.
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Communication Specialist

Denisa Hrnčířová

Responsible for the centre’s communication and for shaping its visual and narrative identity, aiming to translate scientific outputs into clear, accessible messages.
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Interested in our work?

How to get involved

Those wishing to become part of our core team are encouraged to reach out — we value your interest.
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