Academic Editors
The following people constitute the Editorial Board of Academic Editors for PeerJ. These active academics are the Editors who seek peer reviewers, evaluate their responses, and make editorial decisions on each submission to the journal. Learn more about becoming an Editor.
Peter A Federolf
Prof. Peter Federolf was born and received his high school education in Germany. He completed a degree in physics and a Dr. sc. ethz from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich (ETHZ). He held research positions at ETHZ and Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF) in Davos (2000-2005), postdoc positions at the University of Salzburg, Austria and at the University of Calgary, Canada (2005-2007). He was appointed Adjunct Assistant Professor at University of Calgary (2007-2011) and stayed as visiting researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin and at BioMotion Lab in Stanford. As Senior Researcher he joined the Norwegian School for Sport Sciences (NIH) in Oslo, Norway (2011-2013). In 2014 he was a Full Professor for Biomechanics at Department of Neuroscience in the Norwegian University for Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway and Professor II (Adjunct Professor) at NIH. In 2015 he moved to Austria to assume a Full Professorship for Neurophysiology at the Institute for Sport Science (ISW) at the University of Innsbruck. From 2020 to 2024 he held the office of Head of Department at ISW.
Federolf is a Fellow of the European College of Sport Science (ECSS) and currently serves on their Scientific Board. He served on the Executive Board of the Austrian Society of Sport Scientists (“Österreichische Sportwissenschaftliche Gesellschaft”, ÖSG) was was their President between 2022 and 2024.
Federolf's primary research interests include human movement and sensorimotor control with a focus on (1) balance and stability, (2) technique analysis in various sports disciplines, (3) injury prevention and rehabilitation from injury, (4) human motion adaptation to sport equipment.
Easton R White
I am a quantitative marine ecologist who uses mathematical and statistical tools, coupled with experiments and field observations, to answer questions in ecology, conservation science, sustainability, and ecosystem management. Most of my work is focused on marine systems, especially fisheries and spatial planning. I am a new Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of New Hampshire. Prior to joining UNH, I was a research associate at the University of Vermont with the QuEST program, a NSF-funded PhD traineeship focused on quantitative skills, interdisciplinary work, as well as diversity and inclusion.
I currently conduct research on assessing the effectiveness of protected area networks, improving species monitoring programs, and modeling socio-ecological systems in the context of fisheries. My work centers on how environmental variability, in particular rare events (e.g., hurricanes, COVID-19 pandemic), affects ecosystems and those that depend on them. My current work is funded through a NSF grant focused on interdisciplinary approaches to study coupled natural-human systems with Madagascar fisheries as a case study.
Matthew O Parker
Dr. Matt Parker is a Associate Professor in Neuroscience and Translational Psychiatry at the University of Surrey. His research is focussed on understanding the biology of neuropsychiatric, neurodevelopmental, and neurodegenerative disorders, primarily in the context of stress.
Dr. Parker leads the Brain and Behaviour Lab. His group primarily use zebrafish as a model species to study interactions between molecular (genetic/epigenetic) and environmental (e.g., alcohol, stress) factors, and the associated neural circuits, that underlie several neuropsychiatric, neurodevelopmental, and neurodegenerative disorders. They then translate these findings to humans, and have an active clinical research programme. Their approach is theoretically guided by the principles of precision medicine: specifically, understanding the biology of conditions will help develop individualised treatments for patients. They employ a broad range of research methodologies, spanning psychopharmacology, behavioural neuroscience, genetics, and experimental psychology (including animal behaviour).
Andrea Ghermandi
I am an Associate Professor and Head at the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management, and the director of the Natural Resources and Environmental Research Center at the University of Haifa in Israel. I am an alumnus of the Global Young Academy. I received a PhD in Analysis and Governance of Sustainable Development from the University of Venice (Italy) in 2008. An environmental engineer by training, my research spans over a range of fields including the valuation and mapping of ecosystem services and the passive crowdsourcing of social media data in environmental research. I have published >50 peer-reviewed scientific articles and contributed to high-profile international initiatives such as TEEB-The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity, the UNEP/GEF Project for Ecosystem Services (ProEcoServ), and the Ecosystem Service Partnership.
Kabindra Adhikari
Kabindra Adhikari is a soil scientist with expertise in pedometrics, soil-landscape modeling, environmental data science and precision agriculture applications. He holds a PhD in Agroecology with research focusing on pedometrics. His research interests include digital soil mapping, pedology, soil sensing, terrain analysis, soil spectroscopy, soil carbon, soil morphometrics, and ecosystem services. He is developing tools and guidelines to promote precision conservation for croplands by coordinating geospatial data streams for the assessment of sub-field cropland productivity, economics, sustainability and environmental impacts.
Nagendran Tharmalingam
I started my career as a Med. Lab Tech and microbiologist. After my bachelor's and master’s graduation in Microbiology at the Department of Microbiology, Bharathidasan University, India, I did a Ph.D on the Inhibitory effects of piperine compound on Helicobacter pylori and its effects on gastric cancer. Then I moved to the Rhode Island Hospital, U.S.A, for my Post-Doctoral studies with Prof. Eleftherios Mylanokis, where I am actively involved in research projects and engaged in teaching research to undergrad students.
My primary interests are Novel antibiotic molecules against ESKAPE pathogens and gastric cancer-inducing pathogen- H. pylori. I am involved in repurposing clinical and novel synthesized molecules to combat bacterial pathogens.
Currently working as a Assistant Professor of Medicine at Houston Methodist Academic Institute and Assistant Research Member at Houston Methodist Research Institute
Efi Levizou
Associate Professor in Plant Physiology at the Department of Agriculture, Crop Production and Rural Environment, University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece. My research interests lie in the field of Plant Stress Physiology and I’m particularly interested in studying how plants cope with degraded irrigation water and soils. Focus is given on the effects of cyanotoxins-rich irrigation water on plant function as well as on how enhanced levels of potentially harmful trace elements in soil affect plant performance, in the phytoremediation context. Recent research projects include the study of crop function and the identification of possible stress factors in aquaponics production systems.
Joao C Setubal
João Setubal is full professor in the Biochemistry Department of the Institute of Chemistry at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. Setubal has a PhD in Computer Science (1992) from the University of Washington (USA). He was a faculty member at the University of Campinas (Unicamp, Brazil) (1992-2004), then Associate Professor at the Biocomplexity Institute of Virginia Tech, USA (formerly the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute) (2004-2011), where he still is an Adjunct Faculty. His research interests are in computational tools for genomics, metagenomics, and transcriptomics, and applications of such tools primarily in microbiology and microbial ecology.
Claudio C Ramirez
I work on insect ecology focusing in plant-insect interactions from a perspective that addresses proximal (ecological) and distal (evolutionary) causes. This approach aims to contribute to the knowledge of the herbivory patterns observed in natural and productive systems. Regarding proximal causes, I have a particular interest in the behavioral mechanisms that insect uses to feed on host plants, this includes how they deal with plant defense (either in crops or native plants). In relation to distal causes, I am interested in the correlation or experimental association between traits and reproductive outputs over generations. I have been studying hemipteran insects of the family Aphididae, which constitute important crop pests in Chile. Aphids are the group of insects that I have study the most. That are a good model to address fundamental questions in biology and also are a real problem for plant production. I do also enjoy to contribute with ideas aimed to reduce the use of pesticides in agroecosystems. The relationship between agrecosystem and natural areas are also an area that I intend to explore.
Jenny Renaut
Responsible of the Environmental Research and Technology Platform
since 2015, and Leader of the Integrative Biology Platform at Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, including proteomics, metabolomics and genomics laboratories. Specialized in Plant proteomics, Chairwoman of the COST action FA0603 'Plant Proteomics in Europe', general secretary of the International Plant Proteomics Organization
Andrew P Lavender
Senior Lecturer in the Institute of Health and Wellbeing, Federation University Australia. Dr Lavender completed a BSc and a MSc in Sport Science at Edith Cowan University and PhD at Yokohama City University. He is currently teaching applied research for exercise science and motor control and conducting research in exercise for healthy ageing, exercise induced muscle damage and eccentric training and sport related concussion and sub-concussion.
Jaap H van Dieën
Jaap van Dieën worked as a researcher in physical ergonomics at the Institute for Agricultural Engineering in Wageningen, the Netherlands (1986 to 1996). He obtained a PhD from the Faculty of Human Movement Sciences at the VU University Amsterdam the Netherlands in 1993 and has been affiliated to this faculty since 1996. In 2002, he was appointed as full professor and became head of the department in 2016. Jaap van Dieën leads a research group focusing on the neuromechanics of human movement, with applications in ageing, musculoskeletal and movement disorders and sports. His research focuses on four themes:
1) Balance control: what determines good balance control, how we can assess balance control and fall risk, and how can balance control be improved?
2) Control of trunk posture and movement: how does trunk control change with disorders like low-back pain, and how can changes in trunk control be assessed clinically?
3) Spine mechanics and low-back pain: how can low-back loading be assessed, and how effective are ergonomic interventions in reducing low-back loading?
4) Measurement tools for biomechanical and neurophysiological assessment with a focus on applications outside the lab.
Jaap van Dieën has supervised over 50 PhD students and (co-) authored over 500 papers in international scientific journals. He is currently the editor of the Biomechanics and Control of Human Movement section of Frontiers in Sports and Active Living and serves on several editorial boards.