The initiative to recruit new Bolin fellows is a strategic effort to achieve further integration within the centre, aiming at fulfilling Strategic Goal 3 detailed in the Bolin Centre strategic plan 2023–2027 (621 Kb) . We received many excellent applications and offered positions to four candidates, three of whom accepted. We had the pleasure to chat with the fellows prior to their arrival, giving us the opportunity to get to know them, their research, as well as their plans for the future.

Mohammad Razmjooei – Geologist

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Mohammad Razmjooei, who is a Geologist specializing in integrated Stratigraphy and Micropaleontology, is originally from Shiraz, a city located in the southern region of Iran, known for its rich literary heritage and renowned vineyards producing red wine. His passion for geology developed during childhood, leading him to pursue it as his profession.

Mohammad got his PhD in Geology/Geosciences at the University of Copenhagen in 2020 and started a postdoctoral position at Tehran University shortly thereafter. Driven by his profound interest in geology, he embarked on a second postdoctoral position funded by the Swedish Research Council at Stockholm University in June 2021, led by Matt O’Regan. This allowed him to investigate the distribution and composition of calcareous nannofossils in deep-sea sedimentary cores from the Atlantic Ocean.

We asked Mohammad what he hopes to achieve at the Bolin Centre, to which he replied:

“Building on my recent findings, my current emphasis lies on resolving the age-depth relationship of Arctic sediments and reconstructing the paleoceanography of the Arctic Ocean”

Mohammad is also anticipating opportunities to refine his communication skills, especially in effectively engaging with the public. By leveraging his established collaborations with researchers at the Department of Geological Sciences, he aims to play a more active role in shaping collaborative projects and proposals, ultimately advancing to a lecturer position.

Jingyuan Li – Atmospheric scientist

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Jingyuan Li is an atmospheric scientist studying climate dynamics, variability, and change. Prior to joining the Bolin Centre, she was a postdoctoral researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, where she worked with Nicholas Lutsko. She received her PhD in Atmospheric Science from Colorado State University with David Thompson.

Coming all the way from San Diego, USA, Jingyuan highlights that:

“I chose the Bolin Centre because of its inter-interdisciplinary group and numerous climate experts, which will allow me to pursue several different research projects. Of course, the opportunity to live in Stockholm was also a bonus factor!”

Her research interests include quantifying climate variability and deepening our understanding of the physical mechanisms behind climate responses to external forcings, she continues: “My proposed research for this fellowship seeks to investigate how surface temperature persistence evolves under future warming and its impacts on extreme temperature events. I will be working with Thorsten Mauritsen and Frida Bender at MISU and Torben Koenigk at SMHI.”

During her time at the Bolin Centre as a fellow, Jingyuan hopes to make new collaborations at both Stockholm University and SMHI, and broaden her research experience in other fields of climate science.

Marc Fradera-Soler – Botanist

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Marc Fradera-Soler was born and raised in Barcelona but family ties with a remote village in the Catalan Pyrenees brought him up to the mountains every summer, where his love for nature was born. He did his bachelor’s in biology at the University of Barcelona, and with a newly discovered passion for plants, he specialized in botany towards the end of his studies.

Following this passion, Marc did his PhD at the University of Copenhagen (Denmark) as part of the EU-co-funded TALENT Doctoral Fellowship Programme, focusing on glycomic and ecophysiological traits in succulent plants and their adaptive value in arid environments.

Marc will be working with Aelys Humphreys, Natasha Barbolini, Frederik Schenk, and Qiong Zhang on investigating how different plant lineages have evolved abiotic polyresistance (i.e., resistance to multiple abiotic stressors) by focusing on two stressors, drought and frost, and using hot and cold deserts as study systems. This will allow them to test the two prevailing hypotheses for the polyresistance evolution in plants, which are centered on mutual facilitation versus trade-offs. Marc explains: “This project will further our understanding of plant adaptation to novel climatic conditions, which is crucial for climate change mitigation.”

We asked Marc what his expectations are for the coming years, and what he hopes to achieve here at the Bolin Centre, to which he replied:

“By leveraging the resources and expertise available at both the Bolin Centre and Stockholm University, I hope to gain experience in new methods in climate science and paleoclimatology/paleoecology, to produce high-quality research outputs that benefit both my career and the centre, to further develop my network in the scientific community and foster future collaborations and overall to establish my independent research career.”