Daria Shipilina

Thunberg Fellow, SCAS.
Postdoctoral Researcher in Evolutionary Biology, Uppsala University

Daria Shipilina received her PhD degree from Moscow State University, studying ecology and
evolutionary biology. In her PhD, she pioneered the characterization of a hybridization between
two species of a songbird – chiffchaffs. She combined genomic, morphological and bioacoustic
data to prove that two species can cross and produce offspring in nature. 

Later she worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow, studying genomics and theoretical population genetics.
In her postdoc at IST Austria, Shipilina explored the genomics of flower colour in snapdragons
(Antirrhinum majus) and the evolution of unique self-incompatibility systems –molecular mechanisms
preventing inbreeding in plants. Additionally, she used simulation and demographic inference aiming to
enhance current methodology in molecular population genetics.

As a SCAS Thunberg Fellow, Shipilina combines genomics, population genetics and evolutionary
modelling to study another fascinating natural phenomenon: long-range migratory behaviour in Vanessa
butterflies. 

This information is accurate as of the academic year 2020-21.