Who we are

Adriana Corrales is a forest ecologist with a joint position as an Assistant Professor at the Universidad del Rosario in Bogotá. Her research focuses on the ecology and taxonomy of tropical ectomycorrhizal associations, and shifts in fungal community composition caused by biotic and abiotic factors. Her work has demonstrated key interactions between soil biogeochemical cycling, forest function, and ectomycorrhizal fungi in tropical montane forests.

Bethan began studying underground fungal networks during a PhD at the University of Cambridge examining Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi and their genetic interactions with crop plants. She has since continued work on the genomics of symbiotic fungi as a PostDoctoral Researcher, and worked as a Senior Computer Biologist at the Sanger Institute, UK, on the Tree of Life Project that aims to sequence all eukaryotic species on Earth.

Camille Truong is a Mycologist at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria in Melbourne, Australia. Her lab combines traditional taxonomy with genomics, bioinformatics and community ecology, to shed light into the diversity of ectomycorrhizal associations in the southern hemisphere, and their functional roles in forest soils. In 2022, she was awarded a Field Biology Award from the Maxwell-Hanrahan Foundation, as a recognition of her work and advocacy for the study and conservation of forest fungi.

Clara Qin is an ecologist, statistician, and environmental scholar who studies how fungal communities respond to multifaceted global change. Having researched soil microbiota in both unmanaged and agricultural systems, her work aims to unify eco-evolutionary theory across disciplinary contexts through methods development and process-explicit statistical modeling. She received her PhD from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2023 and has won numerous awards for her papers and talks.

Daniela Soto Hernández is a social anthropologist, Master in Sociology, currently doing her Ph.D. in International Development in Global Studies, at the University of Sussex. Her research has focused on gender and labour force in Chile and currently looking at lithium extraction in the same country in the context of energy transition. She has worked in the School of Anthropology in the P. Universidad Católica de Chile, with indigenous communities on several projects with the Center for Indigenous and Intercultural Research (CIIR) and as a consultant for 12 years in diverse areas going from migration, social services, to entrepreneurship and gender in academia.

David has been working with Toby since the early days of SPUN to define and scale the organisation. He collaborates closely with Toby and Jason on SPUN's ongoing strategy, with a focus on how technology can support science and natural systems. Outside of SPUN, he leads growth strategy for one of the world’s largest data and technology consultancies. He is co-founder of b-theory, a venture studio with a focus on incubating startups in the climate space.

Jason is working with Toby and the board to create an organization and platform for scaling the impact of SPUN. Over two decades, Jason’s career has centered on building new mission-driven organizations that rewire legacy systems to benefit people and the natural world. He brings to this work his experience designing platforms for global enterprises, and advising startups and their investors from day zero through growth and venture scale exits. Recently, he co-founded btheory.ventures—a venture studio focused on incubating startups in the climate space.

Jinsu is a data scientist hoping to close the geospatial digital-divide in the work to preserve nature and protect people. Jinsu aims to be a point of connection between his communities and innovative science. He developed a high-resolution mangrove species discrimination model for East African coastal forests. At SPUN, Jinsu is building the tools and models which will allow for predictions of mycorrhizal biodiversity using remote sensing data.

Bio coming soon!

As Lead Designer, Jordan oversees the visual design department at SPUN. In the past, he has led web, mobile, and product design projects for startups and global brands. He is also a design partner at b-theory, focusing on rapid concept design and product incubation.

Justin has been researching microbes since 2014. Their research has taken them from rooftops and rainforest to better understand the biogeography of microbial symbiosis. During this time they have generated maps of where microbes are and why. Justin is currently working on their PhD in Evolution with Toby Kiers on the evolutionary ecology of underground networks. Their work has also extended into science communication with over 16K followers on their Twitter feed. Justin has the goals of mapping the underground for climate science and sustainability.

Kelcie Walther is SPUN's communications lead. She earned her B.A. in environmental biology from Columbia University, and did her undergraduate thesis research with the Kennedy Lab at University of Minnesota on the ectomycorrhizal fungi associated with hazel and pine. Before coming to SPUN she wrote extensively about climate and environment for Columbia University's Climate School, and worked in science communications for the scientific publisher Cell Press. Kelcie is thrilled to be applying her love for science communication directly to protecting the world's fungal networks.

Laura is a postdoctoral researcher based at ETH in Zürich. Previously, Laura has worked on southern-hemisphere forest and fungal ecology in Australia and New Zealand, and has a strong passion for understanding how soil communities influence forest function. Laura’s research currently focuses on investigating global patterns of fungal and microbial biomass and diversity to better inform how we can protect these essential soil communities.

​With over 15 years experience working at advertising and production companies in North America and Europe, Magda is SPUN's Production Lead. Magda works as part of the Communications team across all of SPUN's visual content, bridging the gap between film sets and fungi.

Michael Van Nuland is an ecologist and evolutionary biologist interested in the connections between plant and microbial biodiversity. He combines data science approaches with large-scale observations, controlled experiments, and molecular sequencing to explore how plant-microbe interactions shape species biogeography and broad ecological patterns. His work on the evolutionary dynamics and climate change responses in plant-microbe linkages received multiple awards from the National Science Foundation and from a variety of organizations dedicated to advancing soil ecology research.

Oleh is a faculty member at the School of Biology, V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Ukraine. He is a mycologist whose focus extends from fungal diversity to the spatial and temporal ecology of fungi, geoinformatics, remote sensing, vegetation mapping, and biodiversity informatics. He launched one of the most robust Ukrainian biodiversity data publication servers, which helps Ukrainian scientists in publishing open biodiversity data through GBIF. In 2019 he was recognized as Open Biodiversity Data Ambassador by GBIF. An author of numerous master classes, video tutorials, and blogposts helping Ukrainian researchers getting into spatial science and open biodiversity data.

Qian Mei is the Program Operations Manager at SPUN. Before joining SPUN, she served as the Senior Program Associate at Growald Climate Fund, a venture philanthropy dedicated to driving the green energy transition through collective impact. Qian earned her masters degree in Sustainable Urban Planning and Design from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, writing her thesis on the effects of climate on rice production in key countries in the Global South.

SPUN's Project Manager, Research & Operations, Rachel Pringle, has a BSc. from the University of North Texas and an MSc. from Leiden University. Interested in mycological research and promoting interdisciplinary work, Rachel has carried out research with the Naturalis Biodiversity Centre using DNA metabarcoding to analyze grassland fungal diversity, and was part of a research group at the Centre of Applied Research for Art, Design and Technology, Den Bosch, studying mycelium-based biodesign. She is now the research manager at the Kiers Lab at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Steve Mendelsohn oversees SPUN's financials and non-scientific business operations. His career has focused on leading a variety of humanitarian, arts and media non-profits/NGO's in their work around the world. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Before working with non-profits, Steve managed marketing at American Express and Razorfish, a digital consulting firm.

Toby Kiers is a Professor of Evolutionary Biology and University Research Chair at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her lab uses nanoprobes and high-resolution imaging to map the nutrient flows and architecture of plant-fungal networks. She is globally-recognized for her scientific work in the evolution of symbiotic trade, and her public outreach activities, including a 2019 Ted Talk. Kiers won an Ammodo Award in 2019 for “unfettered science,” and was awarded the E.O. Wilson Award for Natural History in 2021 and a Stairway to Impact Award from the Dutch Science Foundation in 2022. Kiers was named as one of the 22 Scientists playing a crucial role in expanding our understanding of biodiversity by the UN committee on biodiversity.

Vasilis Kokkoris is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Ecological Science at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. His lab uses high resolution molecular methods, advanced microscopy, and imaging analysis, to examine how thousands of nuclei are arranged, as well as how they coordinate and interact with one another within the widespread mycorrhizal networks. His microscopy images have revealed the beauty of the mycorrhizal fungi and have won many international awards such as the "Nikon small world 2020"and "Olympus Image of the year 2021”