Ms. Julia Barczyk | Simulation & Training | Research Excellence Award 

Julia Barczyk is an ornithologist and ecological researcher with extensive experience in field biology, statistical modelling, and biodiversity monitoring across Europe, Asia, and South America. She is completing her PhD at the University of Wrocław, where her dissertation focuses on evaluating methods of forest bird abundance estimation using hierarchical models and long-term field studies in Białowieża National Park. She holds both a Master’s and Bachelor’s degree from Jagiellonian University, with research spanning natal dispersal in blue tits and physiological responses to fasting in zebra finches. Her professional and internship experience includes advanced laboratory and molecular work, extensive bird monitoring, and international field research, such as metabarcoding of aquatic insects in Poland, modelling forest bird abundance at the Swiss Ornithological Institute under Marc Kéry, ecological fieldwork in Ecuador for Senckenberg Research Centre, and multiple ornithological and ecological projects in Poland, Sweden, and tropical environments. She has undertaken diverse workshops and specialist courses, including capture-recapture analyses in R, avian parasitology, GPS and geolocator data visualisation, tropical ecology field methods, and licensed bird ringing training. Julia is the author and co-author of several peer-reviewed publications in journals such as Oikos, Ecological Indicators, Journal of Ornithology, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, and Journal of Avian Biology, addressing topics from distance sampling and abundance estimation to gut microbiome diversity and functional evolution of avian traits. She has presented her work at major international conferences, including the European Ornithologists’ Union Congress, Bird Numbers conference, and the International Ornithological Congress. A dedicated member of the scientific community, she serves on the board of Association Carpatica – Birds Ringing Station and has previously chaired student naturalist and ornithology organisations at Jagiellonian University.