Communications Team
Ramya Ganesan
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Ramya is a postdoctoral researcher from India. She is an experimental biologist interested in microbial ecology and host – microbe interactions. She currently works on understanding the evolution of gut microbial symbionts in honey bees and lives in Portugal. During her PhD at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany and the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany she worked on understanding the interactions between a darkling beetle and its microbial ectosymbionts.
The colourful insects she has worked with often inspire her creative side. She is passionate about making scientific illustrations to communicate science and has worked on illustrations for a textbook cover (in press).
When she is not evading honeybee stings at the lab, she can be found making cartoons, painting/crafting, singing Indian music, playing the bass or going on coffee-tasting expeditions in Lisbon.
Dorota Paczesniak
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Dorota is a freelance scientific illustrator and consultant with a background in evolutionary biology.
She completed her Ph.D. at ETH Zürich, Switzerland, focusing her research on asexual reproduction in wild snail populations. She then continued working as a researcher at the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) in Germany and the University of Saskatchewan in Canada to study evolutionary questions related to reproductive systems in plants. She has worked as a lecturer at ETH Zürich, Switzerland, and the University of Oulu, Finland.
As an illustrator, Dorota has delivered communication projects for professional training and public education campaigns, and created illustrations for books, scientific publications, and grant applications.
She is an author of popular science articles, educational materials and infographics about evolution, genetics, and plant breeding.
Shasa van Ravenstein
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Shasa is a Master of Science graduate in animal ecology and epigenetic inheritance from Wageningen University and Research, the Netherlands. He is driven by a passion to understand how evolution works. His research interests centre on epigenetic inheritance and microbiome–host interactions. He contributed to research at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), studying the transmission of DNA methylation patterns in great tits and developing a grant proposal on the inheritance of small noncoding RNAs in birds.
Alongside his molecular work, he has pursued field-based conservation research with the Zambian Carnivore Program and investigated dietary variation in brown hyenas in Botswana using molecular tools to characterise trophic interactions.
He is currently looking for a PhD position to deepen his work on the evolutionary significance of microbiome-mediated inheritance within the framework of the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis.
Giulia Realdon
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Giulia is a biologist, Master in Science Communication and PhD in Earth Sciences Education.
As a retired teacher, she is active in science education research with the University of Camerino and other international groups, such EMSEA (European Marine Science Educators Association) and EvoKE (Evolutionary Knowledge for Everyone), in teacher training and in non-formal education. She is a Scientix Ambassador and EGU (European Geoscience Union) Education Field Officer for Italy.
Josh Stewart
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Josh came to evolution education through an unlikely route: coaching cross country and athletics. While coaching, he completed a Master of Science in Applied Physiology and Kinesiology and somewhere along the way fell in love with evolutionary biology. That interest in evolution eventually led him to the biology classroom, where he faced one of science education’s most persistent challenges: how to help students genuinely understand the theory of evolution.
He is now pursuing a Master of Science in Science Education, with a capstone project exploring which evolutionary topics are most effective at building real conceptual understanding of the theory of evolution.
Outside of work, Josh enjoys running, cycling, writing, and seeking out good coffee and food in Warsaw, Poland, where he lives with his partner.
Cornelia Witschi
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Argentinian-Swiss Cornelia holds a BSc in Biology and is currently completing a Master’s in Plant Ecology. Her work sits at the intersection of science and storytelling, driven by a passion for making scientific knowledge accessible to everyone, particularly when it comes to communicating the importance of biodiversity.
She is the host of “Cohábitat”, a podcast featuring conversations with researchers and naturalists exploring the natural world through their eyes and expertise.
Among her core interests are biotic interactions and coevolution.
Mado Chantzi
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As a biologist and PhD candidate in the History of Science, Mado explores how scientific representations in museum exhibits and popular books shape public opinion on human evolution.
Alongside her doctoral research, she works passionately in education. Through her teaching, she hopes to inspire younger generations and dreams of a day when evolution is fully understood, finally ceasing to be dismissed as “just a theory.”
In her free time, she travels, watches movies or reads books.