About Us

Marta Szulkin

I am an evolutionary ecologist interested in how wildlife responds to the profound environmental changes generated by human activity. I lead the Anthropocene Biology Lab at the University of Warsaw, where our research brings together ecology, evolution and genetics to understand life in the Anthropocene. With funding from the Polish National Science Centre (NCN), I established the long-term Warsaw Gradient of Urbanisation in 2016. This project provided the foundation for a larger research programme that has since expanded across multiple taxa and research themes including urban evolution, socio-eco-evolutionary dynamics, pollution, conservation biology and climate change.

I studied biology at the University of Warsaw before completing an MSc and DPhil in evolutionary biology at the University of Oxford, where I subsequently held a Research Fellowship by Examination at Magdalen College. Following a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship at CEFE-CNRS in Montpellier, I returned to Warsaw in 2015 and became Full Professor in 2022. I co-edited Urban Evolutionary Biology (Oxford University Press, 2020), the first academic book dedicated to the field, and received the Prime Minister’s Prize for 2024 for scientific achievement in advancing our understanding of biological and evolutionary processes in urban environments.

Publications: All publications are available here.

Zuzanna Jagiełło

I graduated from Wrocław University of Life Sciences with a BSc in Biology in 2011. After my BSc, I completed an internship at the University of Ogongo in Namibia, Africa on the diet of springboks and sunbirds during dry season. I obtained a Master’s degree in Biology at the Poznań University of Life Sciences (2014-2016), where I defend a Masters thesis entitled “Anthropogenic elements in White Stork Ciconia ciconia nest”, under supervision of dr Marcin Tobółka, in the Institute of Zoology, Poznan University of Life Science, Poland. I completed my PhD at the Institute of Zoology, Poznan University of Life Science, Poland in collaboration with Complutense University of Madrid, Spain in June 2023. My research focused on the influence of anthropogenic nest materials on the breeding ecology of birds. During my PhD I carried out three research stays at Complutense University in Madrid and one at CSIRO, Tasmania (Australia) connected to plastic nest incorporation by birds and plastic ingestion.

As of August 2023, I am a post-doctoral fellow in the Anthropocene Biology Lab, where I am investigating the interactive effects of the urban heat island and climate change on avian breeding biology. I am also very involved with iEcology, and have recently published a study reporting for the first time the geographical and taxonomic extent to which hermit crabs use plastic and other artificial materials instead of natural shells for shelter.

Besides working in science, I love travelling, specially trekking and practicing ashtanga yoga.

Publications: All publications are available here.

Anne-Céline Granjon

I am an evolutionary ecologist using population and quantitative genetic data to investigate how ecological gradients shape genetic diversity and evolutionary potential across species. My work spans local to global scales and focuses on broad patterns in genetic variation, range-edge dynamics, and responses to environmental and human-driven change. I am interested in integrative, comparative approaches that link ecological context with evolutionary processes across diverse taxa.

I hold a BSc in Biology and Organisms from the University of Montpellier and a double MSc in Evolutionary Biology from the Universities of Montpellier and Uppsala. During my PhD, I focused on the genetic monitoring of chimpanzee and gorilla populations, collecting and analyzing non-invasive genetic samples (i.e., faecal samples) to estimate population size and growth in focal populations. After an extensive career break (due to a combination of department closure, maternity leave, and the COVID-19 pandemic), I returned to research with the ambition to reconnect to population processes at a larger scale. In my first postdoctoral project at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, I used publicly available microsatellite genotypes of vertebrate populations to investigate worldwide patterns of genetic diversity across latitudes and life-history strategies. I am also involved in the sRED Working group “Range Edge Dynamics”, in which I investigate the distribution of selection strength, phenotypic variation and heritability across species ranges in vertebrates, vascular plants and insects.

My current research investigates genomic footprints of urbanization in blue and great tits, a Postdoc position funded by the Walter Benjamin Programme of the German Research Foundation (DFG), in collaboration with Prof. Marta Szulkin and Prof. Susanne Fritz (Biodiversity in the Anthropocene Group).

Publications: All publications are available here.

Maciej Kamiński

I am a graduate of the University of Łódź, where I obtained my PhD in 2019. Since then, I have been working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biodiversity Studies, Teacher Training and Bioeducation at the University of Łódź, where I am a member of the research group led by Professor Piotr Minias. My research focuses on the adaptation of birds to urban environments, with particular interest in eco-immunological processes, i.e., how ecological inputs (urban environmental conditions) contribute to immunological outputs (adjustments and adaptations within various components of the immune system). I am interested in understanding how urbanization shapes immune function and infection risk in wild birds. I am also interested in exploring the processes shaping gut microbiome diversity and composition, and their influence on host fitness. In 2019, I was awarded a PRELUDIUM grant from the Polish National Science Centre entitled “Genetic immunity and gut microbiota of an urban-adapted bird”, which allowed me to investigate the links between host immunity, microbiome composition, and host population density. In addition, as a licensed bird ringer, I have experience in research on colonial breeding and the trade-offs associated with migratory strategies in shorebirds. I always enjoy engaging in science communication activities.

Publications: All publications are available here.

Ignacy Stadnicki

I have been associated with the Anthropocene Biology Lab since 2019. In 2022, I began my doctoral studies, focusing on the impact of urbanisation on avian reproduction. I obtained a Bachelor’s degree with honours in Anthropozoology from the University of Warsaw in 2021. During my studies, I was also a visiting student at Harvard University’s Solid Earth Geochemistry Lab and the University of Oxford’s Ethno-ornithology Group.

My research interests include urban evolutionary ecology, ethnobiology, and animal welfare. I am a member of the Ethno-ornithology World Alliance. Since 2025, I have led the Urban Cavities Project, a global citizen-science project on iNaturalist investigating birds that use human-made structures for nesting.

Alongside my research, I am actively involved in science communication and volunteer with Lab Rescue, a charity supporting laboratory animals.

Publications: All publications are available here.

Patrycja Piotrowska

I am biology MSc student at the University of Warsaw, and a member of the Anthropocene Biology Lab, where I am working on my thesis. Currently, my main scientific interest is the relationship between urbanization and the diet of nestlings growing in human-dominated habitats. In addition to my research, I am involved in several ornithological and conservation-related activities. I lead a youth volunteer group of the Polish Society for the Protection of Birds and participate in bird-ringing and monitoring projects.