Here you will find the program, invited speakers and testimonials of attendees about their experiences in our workshops.
Here you will find the program, invited speakers and testimonials of attendees about their experiences in our workshops.
Lunchbox Models
"All models are wrong,
but some are delicious!"
online seminar series on ecological modelling & academia
hosted by the GfÖ working groups Computational Ecology & YoMos
Let's create a space to explore ecological models, discuss academic life and build community - and all of that during lunch break!
The concept:
The working groups Computational Ecology and Young Modellers in Ecology (YoMos) of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland (GfÖ) are very happy to invite you to their “Lunchbox Models” online seminar series. Every last Wednesday of the month, we make use of the lunch break and explore the latest research in ecological modelling with an invited guest speaker, following our motto “All models are wrong but some are delicious!”. Just take your lunch, open our Zoom link, enjoy the talk and the scientific discussion - and if you are a junior researcher, stay online for the exchange session to discuss challenges in academia and career - focusing on a different topic every seminar! With this seminar series, we want to provide a platform for connection and exchange between scientists in the field of ecological modelling at various career stages in the GfÖ and beyond!
If you would like to help organise Lunchbox Models seminars, please get in touch with the working groups!
Please note that we are currently not actively searching for speakers. If you still want to apply for a future seminar, please provide us with what unique career experience you could share with early-career researchers during an exchange session in addition to your scientific pitch. We generally target speakers with academic experience starting from advanced post-doc level upwards.
Schedule Winter 26/27: Wednesday, 12:00 - 1:30 PM CE(S)T / Berlin time
28.10.26
Thomas Hickler
Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F)
Scientific Talk:
Process-based modelling of vegetation dynamics and biogeochemical cycles under climate change
Meet the Speaker:
TBA
25.11.25
Sonia Kéfi
Institute des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (ISEM)
Scientific Talk:
TBA
Meet the Speaker:
27.01.26
Philipp Porada
Hamburg University
Scientific Talk:
Linking functional diversity to biogeo-chemical processes across scales – an eco-evolutionary modelling approach
Meet the Speaker:
Travelling with children – the journey after the PhD
24.02.26
Uta Berger
TU Dresden
Scientific Talk:
TBA
Meet the Speaker:
TBA
31.03.26
Sabine Wollrab
Leibnitz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries
(IGB) Berlin
Scientific Talk:
TBA
Meet the Speaker:
TBA
Archive of Lunchbox Models seminars:
Winter 25/26
29.10.25
Hanna Meyer
Münster University
Remote sensing and machine learning
for spatial mapping of the environment
Advice on career tracks in academia
26.11.25
Vasilis Dakos
CNRS, University of Montpellier
Detecting fisheries productivity trajectories at-risk to abrupt shifts
(next generation publishing experiment)
28.01.26
Elisa Thébault
Sorbonne Université,
iEES Paris
Species diversity, food web structure and ecosystem stability: Bridging the gap between theory and data
25.02.26
Boris Schröder-Esselbach
TU Berlin
Ecological modelling provides key contributions to coastal ecology: Coastal ecosystem services and the restoration of seagrass meadows
25.03.26
Nicolas Loeuille
Sorbonne Université,
iEES Paris
Effects of spatial heterogeneity on eco-evolutionary dynamics (and its implications from a management point of view)
Summer 26
27.05.26
Meike Wittmann
Bielefeld University
Incorporating individual trait variation and niche processes into population dynamics and species interaction models
24.06.26
Frank Hilker
Osnabrück University
Tipping cascades, failed rescue effect, and spatial heterogeneity: The dynamics of populations coupled by dispersal
26.08.26
Damaris Zurell
University of Potsdam
Predicting the way toward nature’s recovery
30.09.26
Jelena Pantel
Université Marie et Louis Pasteur, Besançon
Statistical models to bridge the gap between empirical data and theoretical models in community ecology and eco-evolutionary dynamics