I study paths: the courses individual lives take from birth to death, through growth, reproduction and, for some, dispersal to new places, and how these life paths add up to the dynamics and persistence of populations. Individual differences, encounters with conspecifics and other species, and a changing environment all bend these paths. To understand them, from small mammals in the Alps to large carnivores in African savannas, I combine observations from the wild with ecological and evolutionary theory and quantitative methods.
My own path was not a straight one. I started in economics in Istanbul before finding my way to biology, driven by curiosity about pretty much anything with a heartbeat—the stranger, the better.
Few things move science forward like shared curiosity: questioning what we think we know, and exploring bits of the great unknown together. I suspect that helping young scientists find their own paths may ultimately be more meaningful than any individual contribution I make to research.
In my “free” time, I keep moving, in any form, often outdoors. Perhaps this is where research and life meet: a path is more than its rates, distances and destinations. What happens along the way matters.
Google Scholar • ORCID • Official UZH page
Research interests
Population ecology, biodemography, life-history theory, evolutionary demography, metapopulation dynamics, wildlife disease dynamics, quantitative methods in wildlife ecology, conservation biology, biodiversity monitoring.
CV
- Since 2024, Professor of Population Ecology, University of Zurich
- 2017–2024, Associate Professor of Population Ecology, University of Zurich
- 2012–2017, Assistant Professor of Population Ecology, University of Zurich
- 2011–2012, NERC Advanced Research Fellow, Imperial College London
- 2010–2011, Postdoctoral Researcher / Darwin College Fellow, University of Cambridge
- 2008–2010, Postdoctoral Researcher, Imperial College London
- 2006–2008, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Florida
- 2001–2006, PhD in Wildlife Ecology & Conservation, University of Florida
- 1999–2001, MSc in Environmental Sciences, Bosphorus University
- 1994–1999, BA in Economics and Administrative Sciences, Bosphorus University
Office Y19-M-09
Email (@uzh.ch) arpat.ozgul