Martin Wintersparv Stervander
Born 12 May 1980, Swedish citizen
Academic track
- From 2023 (August): Senior Curator of Birds, National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh (UK).
- 2023: Senior Curator, Bird Group, the Natural History Museum, Tring & London (UK).
- 2020–2022: Marie Skłodowska-Curie research fellow with Alex Bond at the Natural History Museum, Tring & London (UK), in a project on the genomics of flight loss in birds.
- 2017–2020: Swedish Research Council postdoctoral fellow with Bill Cresko, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Oregon (USA), in a project on the development and evolution of a highly derived morphological trait – the snout-like mouths of syngnathid fish.
- 2016 Sep–Dec: Short-term postdoc with Jonas Waldenström, Zoonotic Ecology and Epidemiology, Linnaeus University (Sweden), in a project on the characterization of immune genes in birds.
- 2016 Aug: Research assistant in projects on barley and Öland sun rose with Mats Hansson, Dept of Biology, Lund University (Sweden)
- 2010–2015: PhD in biology, Molecular Ecology and Evolution Lab, Dept of Biology, Lund University (Sweden). PhD project entitled “Genetics of speciation in birds” with main supervisors Bengt Hansson and Staffan Bensch. Defended my thesis, entitled “On Speciation in Birds – Genomic Signatures across Space and Time”, on 18 December 2015, with faculty opponent Professor Trevor Price.
- 2011–2013: Participant in the research school of genomic ecology, Geneco.
- 2010: MSc in Molecular Ecology, Lund University, including courses at University of Queensland (Australia), and Örebro University (Sweden). MSc thesis “Tracking genetic divergence in Gulf of Guinea finches – strong support for sympatric speciation”.
Teaching and supervision
Scrutinizing a common diving petrel (Pelecanoides urinatrix). Photo: Martim Melo.
I have been teaching courses in Molecular Ecology and Evolution, Ornithology, Computer skills, and Biostatistics at Lund University and at A.P. Leventis Ornithological Research Institute in Jos (Nigeria), with additional occcasional lectures or practicals in various courses at Uppsala/Mälardalen/Örebro universities (Sweden).
I have co-supervised eight MSc students and three BSc students at Lund University.
37 published papers rendering 2,400 citations, h-index 18, two book chapters, editorials, and popular science. For further information, see the Publications page. Also, see Presentations for selected invited talks and conference contributions.
Awarded total funding of ~€665,000 over 20 grants: Major grants from the Natural History Museum (£47,000 in 2022), the European Commission (€225,000 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship in 2020, ranked top 0.75 percentile) and the Swedish Research Council (SEK 3.15 million ≈ €300,000 International Postdoc Grant in 2016). Smaller grants at a total of €15,500 as PI and €35,700 as co-PI received for research, equipment, field work, travel, and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion projects, from funders including the Swedish Royal Physiographic Society (2010, 2011, 2014), BirdLife Sweden (2012), the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (2015), ‘Heinrich Polls genetiska stipendium’ (2016), ‘Landshövding Per Westlings Minnesfond’ (2016), University of Oregon (2018–2019), the Royal Society (2019), and The Natural History Museum (2021).
Managing editor (2019–present) and editor (2017–present) of the ornithological Open Access journal Ornis Svecica, published by BirdLife Sweden.
Associate Editor (2020–present) of Ibis, published by the British Ornithologists’ Union.
Journal manuscript referee for PNAS, Current Biology, Molecular Biology and Evolution, Molecular Ecology, Evolutionary Applications, Royal Society Open Science, Science Advances, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, PeerJ, Ecology & Evolution, Journal of Biogeography, Journal of Avian Biology, Ibis, Zoology, Bird Conservation International, Diversity, Frontiers in Zoology, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, Ardea, Wilson Journal of Ornithology, Ornis Svecica, Ornis Fennica, and Studies on Neotropical Fauna and Environment. For details, see my Publons profile.
Grant application reviewer for the Icelandic Research Fund (five proposals; 2017–2019) and Hong Kong Research Grants Council (2021).
Symposium organizer of “Studies of avian radiations in the 21st century” at the 2020 North American Ornithological Conference and “Harnessing the power of natural history collections for modern ornithology” at the 2022 International Ornithological Congress.
Other relevant positions and projects
- 2006, 2007: Test fisherman for the Swedish Board of Fisheries.
- 2002–2003: Warden and acting warden at Ottenby Bird Observatory.
- 1999–2002: Field assistant in the Great Reed Warbler breeding ecology project, Lund University.
- 1995–2002: Bird ringer at numerous bird observatories in Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Other merits and distinctions
- Fellow of The Linnean Society of London (elected 2022).
- I have been an elected representative in numerous bodies within Lund University, at department, faculty and university level. For example, I have been a member of the university council, the committees for third-cycle study programs (department, faculty, and university level), the presiding committee and management council of the Faculty of Science, and the board for the Department of Biology.
- I have extensive background from 16 boards and committees at national, regional, and local level. Organizer/leader of several courses, field trips (Sweden, Norway) and exchange programs (Morocco).
- Field work experience from Sweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, São Tomé & Príncipe, and Tristan da Cunha.
- Awards for oral presentations at the 16th Annual Meeting of PhD Students in Evolutionary Biology, Poland, 2010, and Young Systematists’ Forum, UK/online, 2022.
- Conferred the distinction “Birder of the year” by BirdLife Sweden in 1999.
This was the short version… Contact me should you be interested in a more detailed one!