Curriculum Vitae
- Professional Expericence
- Education
- Teaching
- Awards & Honors
- Skills
- Memberships & Services
- Publications
- Talks & Presentations
- Media Appearances
Professional Experience
- Independent Data Visualization Specialist (since 2020)
- Self-employed, Berlin, Germany
- Services: Information and graphic design, cartography, reproducible data analysis, data communication, consulting, workshops
- Tools: R, Shiny, Figma, DataWrapper, Flourish, RAWgraphs, SQL, html, CSS
- Scientific Researcher (PostDoc) (2019–2023)
- Department of Ecological Dynamics, Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, Germany
- Topics: Movement ecology, population dynamics, disease ecology, coexistence theory
- Tasks: Data analysis, statistical and mechanistic modeling, spatial analysis, data visualization, cartography, software development, code management, lab support and supervision
- Tools: R, QGIS, NetLogo
- Ph.D. in Ecology (2015–2019)
- Department of Ecological Dynamics, Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, Germany, within the DFG Research Training Group "BioMove", University of Potsdam, Germany
- Topics: Movement ecology, disease ecology, population dynamics, coexistence theory
- Tasks: Mechanistic and analytical modeling, spatial analysis, data visualization, R package development
- Tools: R, Shiny, NetLogo, QGIS
- Speaker SIG "Young Modellers in Ecology" (2015–2019)
- Young Modellers in Ecology (YoMos), Special Interest Group of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria & Switzerland (GfOe)
- Tasks: Lead of the organizational teams, conference chair, workshop instructor
- Visiting Research Student (2017)
- Getz Lab, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
- Topics: Evolutionary biology, disease ecology, population dynamics, theoretical ecology
- Tasks: Developing genetic algorithms for agent-based models
- Tools: Numerus modelling platform, R
- Research Assistant (2015)
- Department of Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation, University of Potsdam, Germany within the DFG Priority Program "Infrastructure-Biodiversity-Exploratories”
- Tasks: Mechanistic modeling, literature research, proposal writing
- Tools: R, Netlogo, C++
Education
- M.Sc. in Ecology, Evolution and Nature Conservation (2011–2014)
- University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
- Topics: Computational ecology, climate change biology, population dynamics, dryland ecology
- Tasks: Deterministic and stohastic modeling, data collection, data analysis
- Tools: R, C++, MatLab, SPSS
- Internship (2011)
- "AgroScapeLabs", Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Muencheberg, Germany
- Tasks: Catching, collaring and analysis of movement data of red foxes, raccoons and brown hares
- Tools: R, QGIS
- B.Sc. in Life Sciences (2008–2011)
- University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
- Topics: Organismic biology, movement ecology, animal behavior
- Tasks: Data collection, processing, statistical modeling
- Tools: R, MatLab, Excel
Teaching
- “Communicating insights with engaging data visualizations and dashboards”
2-Day Workshop – Supercell – 02|2024 – Helsinki, Finland - “Engaging & reproducible data visualization: from theory to implementation with {ggplot2}”
2-Day Workshop – NC3 Collaborative Research Centre – 01|2024 – remote - “Data visualization in science: how to create beautiful charts with {ggplot2}”
2x 1/2-Day Workshop – University of Uppsala – 11|2021, 12|2022 + 11|2023 – remote - “Engaging & reproducible data visualization: from theory to implementation with {ggplot2}”
1-Day Workshop – TU Munich – 10|2023 – Freising, Germany - “Engaging and beautiful data visualizations with {ggplot2}”
1-Day Conference Workshop – posit::conf(2023) by Posit – 09|2023 – Chicago, IL, USA
> Course Webpage - “Designing data visualizations to successfully tell a story”
1-Day Conference Workshop – posit::conf(2023) by Posit – 09|2023 – Chicago, IL, USA
> Course Webpage - “Hands-on guide to advanced data visualization with {ggplot2}: custom design”
3-hour Live Training – Pearson–O'Reilly Live Training Event – 07|2023 – remote - “Data visualization: principles, inspirations, and effective design to tell stories graphically”
1-Day Workshop – Helmholtz Einstein International Berlin Research School in Data Science (HEIBRiDS) – 06|2023 – Berlin, Germany - “Hands-on data visualization with {ggplot2}:concepts”
3-hour Live Training – Pearson–O'Reilly Live Training Event – 06|2023 – remote - “Designing charts in R: reproducible chart design with {ggplot2}”
4-Hour Workshop – DVS Masterclass presented by Data Visualization Society – 03|2023 – Berlin/remote
> Slides > Course Materials - “Reproducible data analysis with R”
5-Day Workshop – Mildred Scheel Early Career Center, Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden – 02|2023 – Dresden, Germany - “Color palette choice and customization in R and {ggplot2}”
2-Hour Workshop – Workshops for Ukraine – 01|2023 – remote
> Slides > Course Materials - “Data visualization design: inspiration and process”
1-Hour Webinar – Octily – 12|2022 – remote - “Data visualization with {ggplot2} Winter School”
2-Day Workshop – Berlin School of Integrative Oncology (BSIO), Charité University Hospital – 12|2022 – Berlin, Germany - “Designing charts in R: reproducible chart design with {ggplot2}”
3-Hour Workshop & 2-Hour Coding Session – Intersections Workshop "Information is Beautiful" Awards by Data Visualization Society – 11|2022 – Washington DC - “Data visualization in R with {ggplot2}”
4x 5-Day Workshop – Physalia Courses – 03|2020, 11|2020, 11|2021 + 11|2022 – Berlin/remote - “Data visualization design: create engaging and effective graphics”
3-Hour Internal Training – Center for Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC) – 10|2022 – remote - “Data visualization: best principles, chart choice, and design tips”
3-Hour Internal Workshop – cafeyn / Lekiosque.fr – 10|2022 – remote - “Effective data visualization: design graphics to tell stories in an engaging way”
3-Hour Conference Workshop – Berlin School of Integrative Oncology (BSIO), Charité University Hospital – 09|2022 – Berlin, Germany - “Data visualization in {ggplot2}: beautiful and reproducible graphics in R”
1.5-Day Workshop – German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) – 09|2022 – Leipzig, Germany - “Graphic design with {ggplot2}: how to create engaging and complex visualizations in R”
2-Day Conference Workshop – rstudio::conf(2022) by Posit – 07|2022 – Washington, DC, USA
> Course Webpage - “Data visualization in R: how to create engaging charts with {ggplot2}”
1/2-Day Internal Training – Robert-Koch-Institute (RKI) – 06|2022 – Berlin, Germany - “Mastering scientific data visualizations: principles and practice with {ggplot2}”
2x 1/2-Day Conference Workshops – European Meeting for PhD Students in Evolutionary Biology (EMPSEB) – 05|2022 – Espoo, Finland - “Hands-on data visualization with {ggplot2}: how to create engaging and well-designed visualizations in R”
5-hour Live Training – Pearson–O'Reilly Live Training Event – 09|2021, 12|2021 + 04|2022 – remote - “R goes spatial: handling geo data with {terra}”
1-Day Workshop – "Biodiversity Dynamics" module at Technical University Berlin – 03|2022 – remote - “Effective and engaging data visualization with {ggplot2}”
1/2-Day Workshop – Research Institute for Farm Animal Biology (FBN) – 01|2022 – remote - “Hands-on data visualization in R: how to create engaging charts with {ggplot2}”
1/2-Day Workshop – National Institute of Statistics and Geography of Mexico (INEGI and CIMAT) – 01|2022 – remote - “Data visualization in R (Beginner + Advanced)” as part of the VVSOR DataViz Workshop Series
2-Day Workshop – Statistics Communication Section of the Netherlands Society for Statistics and Operations Research – 12|2021 – remote - “Effective data visualization: convert information into visual forms—and tell a story”
1/2-Day Workshop – Senckenberg Young Scientists – 11|2021 – remote - “Effective data visualization: theory and hands-on with {ggplot2}”
1/2-Day Workshop – Geo.X Research Network – 11|2021 – Berlin - “Data visualization in R (Beginner + Advanced)” as part of the RBSZ DataViz Workshop Series
2-Day Workshop – Royal Zoological Society of Belgium (RZSB) – 10|2021 – remote - “Effective data visualization: how to design impactful and aesthetically pleasing charts”
1/2-Day Workshop – Bonn International Graduate School Clinical and Population Science – 10|2021 – remote - “Data visualization with {ggplot2}: principles and beautiful plotting in R”
2-day Workshop – BioMove Research Training Group – 04|2021 – remote - “Data visualisation techniques for data scientists”
2-Day Internal Training – Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) – 02|2021 – remote - “Data visualization with {ggplot2}: data visualization principles and beautiful plotting in R”
2-Day Workshop – NC3 Collaborative Research Centre – 11|2020 – remote - “Scientific data visualization: principles and good practices”
1-Day Workshop – Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research – 09|2019 – Berlin - “Introduction to ecological modelling”
5-Day Block Course – Department of Theoretical Ecology, University of Potsdam – 03|2016 – Potsdam - “Introduction to zoology: microscopy and dissection”
Weekly Practical Workshop – Department for Zoology, University of Potsdam – 2009–2014 – Potsdam, Germany - “Research and presentation”
Semester Course – Department for Didactics of Biology, University of Potsdam – 2013–2014 – Potsdam, Germany - “Systematic zoology II”
Field Workshop – Department for Evolutionary Biology and Systematic Zoology, University of Potsdam – 2013–2014 – Gülpe, Germany
Do you fancy a workshop or seminar?
Schedule a discovery call!
Schedule a discovery call!
Awards & Honors
- Winner “Mapping Movements” Contest 2021 in the category "Pretty Map" plus Runner-Up in the category “R Maps” for the Cheetah map
- Honorable Mention RStudio Contest 2020, designing a static table
- Winner “CorrelAidX Challenge 2020”, designing an interactive Shiny app
- PostDoc Stipend, funded by the University of Potsdam (9 month full position)
- Best Poster, GRC “Movement Ecology of Animals”, Ventura, CA, USA (March 2017)
Skills
- Languages: German (native), English (fluent)
- Programming: R, CSS, html, SQL/SQLite, NetLogo, Python
- Visualization: R (e.g. ggplot2, Shiny, plotly, echarts4r, leaflet, tmap, gganimate, highchartr), Figma, DataWrapper, Flourish, RAWgraphs, Highcharts, CartoDB
- GIS: R (e.g. sf, stars, terra, raster, rgdal, rgeos, sp), QGIS, GRASS, ArcGIS
- Statistics: R (e.g. lm4, glmmTMB, CARBayesST, adehabitat, broom, tidytext, tidymodels), Excel, SPSS
- Markup (Reporting): Markdown, R (e.g. Rmarkdown, blogdown, bookdown, xaringan), LaTeX
Memberships & Services
- Peer Review: CRC Press, Journal of Animal Ecology, Oikos, BMC Ecology, Ecology and Evolution, Landscape Ecology, Ecological Modelling
- Functional Roles: Speaker of the SIG “Young Modellers in Ecology (YoMos)” (2015–2019); spokesperson in the research training group “BioMove” (2015–2018); part of the MCED award committee (2015–2019)
- Memberships: CorrelAid volunteer (since 2019); Data Visualization Society (since 2019); “R for Data Science” Online Learning Community (since 2018)
- Conference Organisation: 11th–14th Workshop of the Young Modellers in Ecology (2016–2019); 1st International BioMove Symposium (2018); Annual Symposium of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria & Switzerland (2013)
Publications
Peer-Reviewed Publications
My ORCID ID is 0000-0003-0465-2543. You can also find me on Google Scholar.
- (2024) Effect of human induced surface water scarcity on herbivore distribution during the dry season in Ruaha National Park, Tanzania.
Wildlife Biology:e01131 - (2024) Resource asynchrony and landscape homogenization as drivers of virulence evolution: The case of a directly transmitted disease in a social host.
Ecology and Evolution 14:e11065 - (2023) On the road to self-sustainability: Reintroduced migratory European northern bald ibises Geronticus eremita still need management interventions for population viability.
ORYX:1-12 - (2022) Modelling the power of acoustic monitoring to predict bat fatalities at wind turbines.
Conservation Science and Practice 4:e12841 - (2022) A simple kit to use computational notebooks for more openness, reproducibility, and productivity in research.
PLOS Computational Biology 18(9):e1010356 - (2021) ‘Keeping the kids at home’ can limit the persistence of contagious pathogens in social animals.
Journal of Animal Ecology 90(11):2523–2535 - (2021) Movement can mediate temporal mismatches between resource availability and biological events in host-pathogen interactions.
Ecology and Evolution 11(10):5728–5741 - (2020) Moving infections: Individual movement decisions drive disease persistence in spatially structured landscapes.
Oikos 129(5):651–667 - (2020) Movement-mediated community assembly and coexistence.
Biological Reviews 95 (4):1073–1096 - (2020) Metamodels for evaluating, calibrating and applying agent-based models: a review.
Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation 23(2):9 - (2020) When size matters: large yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) females allocate more energetic resources for reproduction than smaller individuals in the central–eastern Atlantic Ocean.
Fisheries Research 232:105726 - (2019) Seasonal host life-history processes fuel disease dynamics at different spatial scales.
Journal of Animal Ecology 88(11):1639–1824 - The dimensionality of stability depends on disturbance type.
Ecology Letters 22(4):647–684 -
NLMRandlandscapetools: An integrated environment for simulating and modifying neutral landscape models in R.
Methods in Ecology and Evolution 9(11):2240–2248 - Merging trait-based and individual-based modelling: An animal functional type approach to explore the responses of birds to climatic and land use changes in semi-arid African savannas.
Ecological Modelling 326:75–89
Book Chapters
- (2021) Individual-based models.
In: R. Salguero-Gómez & M. Gamelon (Eds.), Demographic Methods across the Tree of Life. Oxford University Press, 400 pages, ISBN 0198838603.
Talks & Presentations
Invited Talks
- Datenvisualisierung—wie mache ich das richtig?
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Innere Medizin (German Society for Gastroenterology, Digestive and Metabolic Diseases, DGVS) – 11|2023 – Berlin, Germany - (Even more) exciting data visualizations with {ggplot2} extensions
R Ladies Rome – 11|2023 – remote
> Slides > Recording - (Even more) exciting data visualizations with {ggplot2} extensions
Berlin useR Group – 10|2023 – Berlin, Germany
> Slides - Visualizing information with confidence: principles & best practices to tell a story with data
Kansas State University – 10|2023 – remote - Engaging data visualization: create graphics that successfully tell a story
Senckenberg Young Scientists – 06|2023 – remote - Datenvisualisierung—wie mache ich das richtig?
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gastroenterologie, Verdauungs- und Stoffwechselkrankheiten (German Society of Internal Medicine, DGVS) – 05|2023 – Berlin, Germany - Engaging visualization design to successfully communicate data.
Forum Ökologisch-Soziale Marktwirtschaft e.V. (economic think tank) – 01|2023 – remote - Engaging visualization design to successfully communicate data.
CAMeL Seminar at University of Pittsburgh – 11|2022 – remote - Engaging visualization design to successfully communicate data.
MALT Community – 09|2022 – remote - Effective data visualization: design graphics to tell stories in an engaging way.
Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA) – 04|2022 – remote - Mit Grafiken Mehrwert schaffen: Prinzipien effektiver Datenvisualisierung und -kommunikation.
Federal Institute for Population Research (Bundesinstitut für Bevölkerungsforschung) – 02|2022 – remote
> Slides (German) > Slides (English) - #30DayMapChallenge: the good, the bad and the ugly of crafting maps with ggplot2.
R Ladies Bangalore – 12|2021 – remote
> Slides > Recording - Beyond bar and box plots: chart alternatives and how to design them with ggplot2”
USGS Community for Data Integration – 09|2021 – remote
> Slides > Recording > Hands-On Tutorial - My favorite ggplot2 extension packages.
R Ladies Tunis – 07|2021 – remote
> Slides > Recording - The first #30DayChartChallenge: a summary of inspiring contributions, our learnings, and about the value of challenges in general.
DataVis Lisboa – 05|2021 – remote
> Slides > Recording - ggplot wizardry: My favorite tricks and secrets for beautiful plots in R (Extended Version).
useR Oslo – 03|2021 – remote
> Slides > Recording - Building a modularized Shiny app with
golemand html widgets.
CorrelCon: A Weekend of Data4Good – 11|2020 – Online Conference by CorrelAid
> Slides > Recording - Effective data visualization: how to design impactful and aesthetically pleasing charts.
Heureka Labs & Duke+DataScience – 10|2020 – Webinar by Duke University
> Slides > Recording
Do you want to engage me as a speaker?
Schedule a discovery call!
Schedule a discovery call!
Conference Presentations
- DataViz challenges: a fun way to learn and build a portfolio and network.
Panel Discussion – DVS Outlier Conference 2022 – 02|2022 – remote - Data visualization in non-dataviz research.
Panel Discussion – DVS Outlier Conference 2022 – 02|2022 – remote - ggplot wizardry: my favorite tricks and secrets for beautiful plots in R.
Talks + Coding Session – DVS Outlier Conference 2021 – 02|2022 – remote
> Slides > Recording > Hands-On Tutorial - : Effects of movement behaviour on disease persistence.
Poster – Gordon Research Conference on Movement Ecology of Animals – 03|2019 – Lucca, Italy - Effects of movement behaviour on disease persistence: zhe case of classical swine fever in wild boar.
Talk – 1st International BioMove Symposium – 09|2018 – Potsdam, Germany - : Individual movement decisions shape disease dynamics: combining movement ecology and epidemiological models.
Talk – Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria & Switzerland (GfOe) – 09|2016 – Marburg, Germany - : Can we use functional types to predict responses of birds to changes in African savannas? an individual-based modelling approach.
Talk – Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria & Switzerland (GfOe) – 09|2014 – Hildesheim, Germany - : Infection on the move: combining movement ecology and epidemiological models.
Poster – Gordon Research Conference on Movement Ecology of Animals – 03|2017 – Ventura, CA, USA - : Combined effects of land-use and individual movement decisions shape disease dynamics.
Poster – CAnMove Animal Movement International Symposium – 02|2016 – Lund, Sweden - : Modelling the vertical and horizontal migration of wireworms: how does timing and intensity of root herbivore pressure impact grassland communities?
Poster – Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria & Switzerland (GfOe) – 09|2015 – Goettingen, Germany
Contributions to R Packages
CRAN Packages
- (2022)
layer: Create stacked tilted maps in ggplot2.
R package version 0.0.1, available on GitHub and CRAN. - (2022)
camcorder: Record your plot history.
R package version 0.1.0, available on GitHub and CRAN. - (2021)
viridis: Default color maps from 'matplotlib'.
R package version 0.6.2, available on GitHub and CRAN. - (2017)
NLMR: Simulating neutral landscape models with R.
R package version 1.1, available on GitHub and CRAN.
Non-CRAN Packages
- 2021:
d6berlin: Spatial data and template maps for Berlin. Available on GitHub. - 2020:
d6: Simplify workflows of D6 research projects. Available on GitHub.
Media Appearances
Video Recordings
- "One Chart At A Time – Episode 32: Beeswarm Charts” as part of the “One Chart At A Time” Series by Jon Schwabish
Podcasts
- “PolicyViz Episode #212” hosted by Jon Schwabish
- “Die Sendung mit der Ziege: Lollipops und Regenwolken” hosted by Dr. Madlen Ziege
Guest Posts
- “The #30DayChartChallenge Is Ready to Kick Off” @ Nightingale
- “Colors and Emotions in Data Visualization” @ Storytelling With Data
Interviews
- “Data visualization shows countries with highest-rated coffees” by BeanPoet
- “Vignette: Interviews of the Beautiful People that Use R” by Georgios Karamanis
Mentions
- “Data Workshops for Ukraine: Learn a Skill and Support a Cause” by Sharon Machlis
- “Best of The Visualization Web September 2020” by Andy Kirk highlighting the “Not My Cup of Coffee” graphic
- “Best of the Tableau Web” by Tableau/Andy Cotgreave mentioning “Evolution of a ggplot (Ep. 1)”
- “Mapping Movements – The Art and the Science: we have the winners!”by BES Movement Ecology SIG awarding my cheetah map
- “Winners of the 2020 RStudio Table Contest” awarding my IMDb Top 250 Table
- “Our first CorrelAidX challenge” by CorrelAid awarding our Shiny app about Berlin bike accidents
- “Are beeswarm charts possible in two dimensions?” by Neil Richards mentioning my “One Chart at A Time” video on beeswarm plots
- “Creating Lollipop-Jitter Plots in Tableau” by Klaus Schulte replicating my “Evolution of a ggplot (Ep. 1)” in Tableau
Miscellaneous
- Collection of tutorials featured on the R Graph Gallery by Yan Holtz, based on my #TidyTuesday contributions
- “Mario Kart 64 World Records”
- “Circular lollipop plot with R and ggplot2”
- “The Office Ratings”
- “Chris Claremont’s X-Men comics exploration with streamcharts”
- “Line chart with labels at end of lines”
- Jon Schwabish's “R Sprint” following my extensive step-by-step ggplot2 tutorial