Polish Evolutionary Conference PEC2026

Swiss Ornithological Institute, Sempach, Switzerland

Topic: A mosaic of modular variation at a single gene underpins convergent plumage coloration

Research background and interests: I have a longstanding interest in understanding the molecular bases and evolutionary history of phenotypic and species diversity. To this end, my research makes use of large-scale molecular data to study hybridization and adaptation in avian systems.

CEFE, University of Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France

Topic: Adapting to fluctuating and complex environments

Background/research interests: I'm interested in the mechanisms and consequences of adaptation to changing environments. My group works on the genetics basis of adaptation, the evolution of plasticity, and eco-evolutionary dynamics, using a combination of approaches: theory, experimental evolution, and analyses of long-term datasets from natural populations. For our experiments we use the halotolerant microalga Dunaliella salina, which has fascinating mechanisms of salinity tolerance.

Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), Dept of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Norway

Topic: Structural genomic variation in an evolutionary perspective 

Background/research interests: My research deals with evolutionary genomics - both at the comparative- and population level. A particular interest has been evolution of teleosts (bony fishes), their genome architecture and structural variation in terms of copy number variation, inversions and chromosomal rearrangements. Another focus has been plant evolutionary genomics addressing structural variation in terms of length variation of short tandem repeats and genome architecture effects of hybridisation events. Recently, we have also initiated investigations of bird genomes and their unusual microchromosomes.  A large proportion of our current research has been associated with the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP) and European Reference Genome Atlas (ERGA). 

Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Uppsala University, Sweden

Topic: Stealing and dealing: eukaryotic strategies for living without oxygen 

Research background and interests: Courtney Stairs explores how microorganisms have evolved to live in anoxic and oxygen-limited environments. Her research focuses on the evolutionary origins and diversification of this anaerobic metabolism in microbial eukaryotes - also known as protists - using a combination of comparative genomics, cell biology, and microbiology.