Ecological Inference for Conservation Movement, demography and animal-borne monitoring for conservation under uncertainty.

People

People

Current and former members of the group and close project team.

Group members

Eldar Rakhimberdiev
Principal investigator

Eldar Rakhimberdiev

Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam

Eldar develops quantitative approaches that connect animal movement, demographic inference and conservation-relevant ecological modelling.

Projects: Waakvogels, Sentinel indicators, UvA-BiTS and dashboards, Godwit chick survival, Vector-borne disease, Seabird behaviour and offshore wind, Brent goose migration and demography, Bar-tailed godwit demography, Spoonbill movement

conservation demographymovement ecologyhidden-state inferenceanimal-borne monitoring
Email Website Google ScholarResearchGateBlueskyLinkedInGitHub
Postdoctoral researcher 2026-2029

Julia Karagicheva

University of Amsterdam

Julia develops sentinel indicators that turn animal tracking and sensor data into interpretable ecological information.

Projects: Waakvogels, Sentinel indicators, UvA-BiTS and dashboards

sentinel indicatorstracking datadashboards
Web-services developer 2025-2026

Bastiaan Blauw

University of Amsterdam

Bastiaan develops dashboard infrastructure that makes animal-borne sentinel indicators usable for researchers and stakeholders.

Projects: Waakvogels, UvA-BiTS and dashboards

dashboardsdata infrastructureecological indicators
Postdoctoral researcher 2025-2027

Tjomme van Mastrigt

University of Amsterdam

Tjomme works on integrated population modelling and annual-cycle demography of brent geese within the Waakvogels programme.

Projects: Waakvogels, Brent goose migration and demography

brent gooseintegrated population modelsdemography
PhD candidate 2026-2030

Andrew Brown

University of Amsterdam

Andrew works on spatially explicit integrated population models for black-tailed godwit conservation management.

Projects: Godwit chick survival

Supervision team

  • AndrĂ© de Roos - Promotor (University of Amsterdam)
  • Eldar Rakhimberdiev - Daily supervisor; co-promotor role (University of Amsterdam)
black-tailed godwitintegrated population modelsspatial demographyconservation management
Machine-learning researcher

Fatemeh Karimi Nejadasl

Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam

Fatemeh develops machine-learning approaches for behaviour annotation and discovery of new behavioural states from animal-borne accelerometer data.

Projects: Behavioural discovery from accelerometry, Sentinel indicators

machine learningaccelerometer databehaviour annotationbehavioural discoveryanimal-borne sensors

Associated PhD candidates and collaborative supervision

PhD candidate 2025-2029

Simon Niessen

University of Amsterdam

Simon studies lesser black-backed gull movement, foraging strategies and seabird behaviour in the North Sea in relation to environmental and anthropogenic drivers.

Project: Seabird behaviour and offshore wind

Supervision team

  • Judy Shamoun-Baranes - Promotor / main supervisor (University of Amsterdam)
  • Eldar Rakhimberdiev - Co-supervision and movement-analysis support (University of Amsterdam)
lesser black-backed gullsNorth Seaoffshore windforaging behaviourbiologging
PhD candidate 2024-2028

Jan Geisler

University of Amsterdam / NIOO-KNAW

Jan studies how body condition, environmental conditions and migration timing interact in brent geese facing Arctic environmental change.

Project: Brent goose migration and demography

Supervision team

  • Bart Nolet - Promotor / main supervisor (NIOO-KNAW / University of Amsterdam)
  • Eldar Rakhimberdiev - Co-promotor; methodological and daily supervision (University of Amsterdam)
brent goosemigration timingbody conditionArctic warming
PhD candidate 2023-2027

Tijmen Hartung

Erasmus MC / Pandemic and Disaster Preparedness Center

Tijmen works on climate change, bird reservoirs and vector-borne disease risk in collaboration with the Pandemic and Disaster Preparedness Center.

Project: Vector-borne disease

Supervision team

  • Marion Koopmans - Promotor / main supervisor (Erasmus MC)
  • Reina Sikkema - Co-promotor; daily supervisor (Erasmus MC)
  • Eldar Rakhimberdiev - Co-supervision on bird ecology and ecological modelling (University of Amsterdam)
disease ecologybird reservoirspreparednessecological modelling
PhD candidate 2024-2028

Anne Vorenkamp

NIOZ / BirdEyes / University of Groningen

Anne studies how movement and demography interact across the annual cycle in bar-tailed godwits.

Project: Bar-tailed godwit demography

Supervision team

  • Theunis Piersma - Promotor / main supervisor (NIOZ / BirdEyes / University of Groningen)
  • Roeland Bom - Co-promotor (NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research)
  • Allert Bijleveld - Co-promotor (NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research)
  • Eldar Rakhimberdiev - Co-promotor; methodological supervision (University of Amsterdam)
bar-tailed godwitannual cyclemovement ecologydemography
PhD candidate 2024-2028

Arne van Eerden

BirdEyes / University of Groningen

Arne studies spoonbill movement ecology, social learning and the development of migration routes along the flyway.

Project: Spoonbill movement

Supervision team

  • Theunis Piersma - Promotor / main supervisor (BirdEyes / University of Groningen)
  • Wouter Vansteelant - Co-promotor; daily supervisor (BirdEyes / University of Groningen)
  • Eldar Rakhimberdiev - Co-promotor; methodological supervision (University of Amsterdam)
spoonbillsocial learningmigrationmovement ecology
PhD candidate 2021-2026

Marie Stessens

University of Groningen

Marie studies black-tailed godwit management and demography in agricultural landscapes.

Project: Godwit chick survival

Supervision team

  • Theunis Piersma - Promotor / main supervisor (University of Groningen / NIOZ)
  • Eldar Rakhimberdiev - Co-promotor; daily and methodological supervision (University of Amsterdam)
black-tailed godwitmanagementdemography

Selected MSc thesis projects

MSc thesis 2023

Detection of avian influenza from movement and behavioural data of barnacle geese (Branta leucopsis) collected by tracking devices

Jitske Schreijer

avian influenzamovement databarnacle geese
MSc thesis 2023

Overwintering on the Iberian Peninsula: a survival benefit compared to flying to Africa for black-tailed godwits?

Ronald van der Woude

black-tailed godwitmigrationsurvival
MSc thesis 2024

Foraging habits of the Caspian gull (Larus cachinnans), a newly arrived and colonising species in the Netherlands

Emilie Manzo

Caspian gullforaging ecologycolonisation
MSc thesis 2024

Potential of seabirds as animal sentinels for illegal fishing detection: a lesser black-backed gull study

Eva de Jonghe

lesser black-backed gullillegal fishinganimal sentinels
MSc thesis 2024

Detecting illegal waste dumping using lesser black-backed gull sentinels

Guus Faber

lesser black-backed gullwaste dumpinganimal sentinels
MSc thesis 2024

Mapping intertidal habitats for wintering shorebirds with Sentinel-1 CSAR and global tide model EOT20

Isis Kaiser

shorebirdsintertidal habitatremote sensing
MSc thesis 2024

Tracking animals’ behaviour as sentinels of environmental change

Tohar Tal

animal behavioursentinel indicatorstracking data
MSc thesis 2024

Exploration of stork behaviour as an indicator for wildfire detection based on GPS data

Vladimir Davidovic

storkswildfire detectionGPS data
MSc thesis 2024

Assessing the ecological significance of intertidal exposure for migratory shorebirds

Xueying Zhang

migratory shorebirdsintertidal exposurehabitat use