My name is Sophie O’Brien, and I have recently started a three-year postdoctoral position with Prof. Pete Manning, modelling agricultural landscape multifunctionality. This research is part of the pan European agroecology partnership project SAFER (Strengthening Agricultural landscape multiFunctionality through expansion of agroecological farming in EuRope; www.agroecologypartnership.eu/en/projects/safer)
I moved to Bergen in June 2026 from Aotearoa New Zealand, together with my husband Chris, our son Robin (4 years) and daughter Audrey (18 months). We are very grateful to be living in your beautiful city!
I was awarded my PhD in 2025 at the University of Canterbury (UC) in Christchurch, New Zealand, supervised by Prof. Jason Tylianakis (UC) and Prof. Sandra Lavorel (Université Grenoble Alpes, France). During my thesis research, I investigated the spatial drivers of providing and receiving ecosystem services in landscapes. This gave me opportunities to build Bayesian models of ecosystem-service-providing animals’ movement as well as engaging with local stakeholders to understand the non-physical barriers faced by communities to access ecosystem services in landscapes.
Thank you to everyone in the department who has already welcomed us so warmly to UiB, I look forward to connecting with you all in the months ahead!