Biodiversity is modeled by the process of speciation and extinction. There is clear evidence both from living and extinct species that biodiversity is extremely variable through time and among species. However, we still do not know what factors, e.g., environmental or species intrinsic, drive speciation and extinction rates on a macroevolutionary level. To complicate matters, species diversification models are not identifiable, that is, there are infinitely many combinations of continuous speciation and extinction rate functions that are statistically indistinguishable. First, I will extend previous diversification models to jointly infer time-varying and lineage-specific diversification rates using phylogenies of extinct and extant taxa. Second, I will tackle the non-identifiability problem and explore which patterns, e.g., rapid increases in diversification rates and mass extinctions, can be inferred. Third, I will use a combined paleo-phylogenetic approach and estimate diversification rate from phylogenies with extinct and extant taxa. Thus, I will combine statistical, computational, neontological and paleobiological approaches to study macroevolutionary dynamics. I will produce species-level phylogenies each Carnivora, Cetartiodactyla, Crocodyliformes and Squaliformes using novel morphological datasets and models. I will test if diversification rates are correlated with environmental factors (e.g., CO2 or temperature) or species specific traits (e.g., body size and life history traits). Ultimately, we will test if specific traits are correlated with mass extinction survival probabilities, as for example the Lilliput Effect predicts smaller species to have higher survival probabilities.

The gut is a highly dynamic microbial ecosystem that controls human health through its collective metabolic activities. Microbial communities form metabolic networks that are essential for dietary breakdown, production of bioactive metabolites and resistance to infections. Bacterial lineages making up these networks evolve rapidly to adapt to the microbial, metabolic and immune environment of the gut. The lack of suitable model systems has limited our current understanding of the relevance of microbial community evolution in the gut and its impact on microbe-host mutualism. EvoGutHealth aims to fill this gap in knowledge by using an innovative, tuneable oligo-microbial model system that allows the study of how a native bacterial consortium evolves in its autochthonous host. Based on our preliminary data, we hypothesize that adaptive evolution shapes synergistic metabolic interactions between individual community members and this eventually affects global microbiome functions such as colonization resistance against pathogens. EvoGutHealth pursues three research goals: First, to identify environmental and host factors that shape the genetic potential of microbial communities in the gut. Second, to uncover how microbial community evolution influences disease-relevant microbiome features and metabolic pathways. Third, to model bacterial metabolic networks and elucidate how they are affected by the genetic alterations of their components. This combined work will fundamentally advance our understanding of the driving forces underlying metabolic network evolution in the mammalian gut. Moreover, it will illuminate how this evolution translates into functional changes. Finally, EvoGutHealth will provide necessary insight to develop strategies to steer microbial communities towards beneficial interactions promoting human health.

Being one of the smallest 19th century European powers, however with one of the largest overseas empires, the Netherlands continuously depended on non-European services, resources and man-power to build and run their far-flung island empire in Southeast Asia. Unsurprisingly, around 40% of the European soldiers employed by the Dutch Colonial Army between 1816 and c. 1914 were non-Dutch, hailing mostly from Belgium, Germany, France, and Switzerland. How did the Dutch manage to recruit ca. 70.000 European foreigners into their colonial army? And how did these men not only help build the Dutch Empire, but through their imperial careers also affect the histories of those European regions they came from? Using a database with biographic information on all 175.000 European soldiers and mercenaries in the Dutch Colonial Army, this project will be the first to tell the 'forgotten' story of deep historical connections between Indonesia, which today is the largest Muslim-majority and the overall third largest democracy in the World, and vast parts of Western- and Central Europe. Uncovering this largely unknown connected history will impact European Global History, Dutch Colonial History and the national histories of the mentioned countries. Carrying out this project under the supervision of Prof. Roland Wenzlhuemer at the Munich Centre for Global History will deepen my conceptual understanding of Global History, widen my methodological skill set, and improve my leadership skills. This will significantly increase my chances of getting a tenured position for European and Global History.

Femtosecond laser pulses can be exploited to trace the ultrafast motion of electrons (“attosecond physics”) and study the properties of molecules, and the changes they undergo, on the atomic scale (“femtochemistry”). Suitable tailoring of the laser fields even allows for controlling the electron and nuclear dynamics within molecules and thereby steer chemical reactions towards a desired outcome (“coherent control”). Despite a wide range of perspective applications in fundamental science and industry, our capabilities to exert control on chemical reactions, and our understanding thereof, have been very limited. In the proposed work, I will develop and employ a novel experimental technique, which will allow (a) controlling light-induced chemical reactions in a wide range of molecular species efficiently, and (b) imaging the electron and nuclear dynamics underlying such reactions on their natural timescales. My work will go significantly beyond the state-of-the-art and thus contribute to the development of coherent control and our microscopic understanding of photochemical reactions. The advancements become possible by combining the latest laser technology with the expertise of all participants. The proposed MSCA will complement my scientific skills, both experimental and theoretical, and will provide me with required transferable skills to reach my long-term goal of establishing my own research group in Europe. The new scientific development will contribute to consolidating the European Leadership in the field of Attosecond Physics.

Human fluid intelligence is characterized by a structured sequence of cognition, resulting in efficient application of rules to novel problems. In the brain, metabolic neuroimaging and lesion studies have linked fluid intelligence to a specific frontoparietal network, here called the multiple-demand (MD) network, comprising regions of lateral frontal, insular, dorsomedial frontal and parietal cortex. But how do MD functions determine fluid intelligence across stages of cognition? My extensive expertise in electroencephalography (EEG) source analyses and neural pattern classification techniques will allow me to assess time-resolved neural representations of novel rules in MD and perceptual cortex as a function of fluid intelligence, as well as the causal impact of MD cortex on earliest stages of perceptual encoding. Higher- and lower-intelligent subjects’ electrophysiological (EEG) and behavioural measures of novel rule implementation will be systematically analysed. Non-invasive neural stimulation (transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)) will be used in combination with EEG to draw causal conclusions on the specific role of MD and perceptual cortices in human fluid intelligence. My novel analysis approach may provide a new account on fluid intelligence: one aspect of low fluid intelligence may be the dysfunctional early filtering of task-relevant information in perceptual cortex, due to lack of top-down control from MD cortices, leading to sensory overload on later processing stages. The proposal’s outcomes will be both of high academic and commercial interest. Understanding the brain signatures underlying fluid intelligence is essential for more specific and cost-effective medical interventions. For example, decline of fluid intelligence due to healthy ageing is strongly correlated with high-cost medical conditions such as depression, which affect an increasing number of people in the ageing European population.