Our team

PD Dr. Reto Nyffeler is the Herbarium Curator of Phanerogams at the Institute for Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, University of Zürich. He has an expertise in plant systematic and phylogenetic research, information technology (IT), and herbarium curation. He has the mandate to facilitate the digital transformation of UZH herbaria. His personal webpage is this.

Dr. Simon Aeschbacher is an evolutionary biologist at the Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies at the University of Zurich with expertise in population genomics and computational approaches. He will contribute to the design of the workbench and a proof of concept in WP2 based on a herbarium-genomics case study on cultivated tomatoes, and from his perspective as a scientist who both generates and uses collection-based data to inform and test model-based inference approaches. His personal webpage is this.

Dr. Jurriaan M. de Vos is an botanist and evolutionary biologist at the Department of Environmental Sciences at University of Basel and Principal Curator of the Herbaria Basel (BAS/BASBG/RENZ).  His expertise bridges the realms of research and technical expertise, from genetics and trait evolution to systematics and specimen curation.  This broad experience will allow him to contribute ideas and critical feedback in WP2 (Users Need Analysis) and WP3 (Work Bench Design). His personal website.

Dr. Manuela Dahinden is managing director of the Plant Science  Center, the largest research network of plant scientists in Switzerland. She develops inter- and transdisciplinary research programs in collaboration with industry, federal offices and international organizations. She is an expert in science communication and public engagement. Her website.

Thomas Grubinger is an evolutionary biologist at the Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies at the University of Zurich. His main interests and expertise are in plant systematics, bioinformatics and population genomics. His experience reaches from conducting field and lab work to data processing and analysis. With this set of experience, he is delighted to support the E-specimina project as a Postdoc.

Dr. Barbara Templ is a biologist with data science background at the Institute for Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, University of Zürich. She has thorough knowledge of data science ethics, FAIR and open research data management (RDM) and demonstrated background in plant phenological research. Her experience in project management will allow her to support the WP1 (Coordination), furthermore her interdisciplinary skills will allow her to contribute to WP3, specifically to workshop organisation and compilation of insights and recommendations on the "Roadmap for digital herbaria".