10/03/2026

During 3-5th of March, Ana joined the first in-person meeting of the FISC (https://www.forestinvasion.cz/) Working Group “Transient impacts of invasive species”, led by Deepa Pureswaran. The meeting was held in Prague, Czech Republic.

02/03/2026

In October, Eliška Hlaváčová joined IRIS for her Erasmus internship to gain some insights into the research on biological invasions after finishing her masters degree at CZU in Prague, Czech Republic. During her 4 month internship she helped out with ongoing projects, joined on a fieldwork trip, and actively helped in organising and hosting the OneSTOP annual meeting. We feel lucky to have had Eliška as part of IRIS for her internship and are looking forward to seeing where her path in science takes her.

13/01/2026

International Day of Women and Girls in Science. 

On February 11th we celebrated this special day by visiting the local elementary school Colegio Freinet. Together with several colleagues from EEZA, Ana and Paula spent a wonderful day sharing what it means to be a researcher with students of different ages. They talked about their work, their paths into science, and answered lots of curious and inspiring questions along the way. The visit also included a small exhibition of specimens and plants from the EEZA collection, giving students the chance to explore science up close. And the day ended with a themed drawing contest full of creativity and prizes for the young artists. Check out a short video about our visit on our Instagram page.

Here’s to more girls growing up knowing that science is for them!

17/12/2025

December at the EEZA-CSIC

With the holidays coming up, things got busy at the EEZA with annual pre-christmas events. On the 11th of December, team IRIS took part in the XIX Maratón Científico where local scientists came together to present their current work to each other. Here, Ana, Arnau, Marta, Paula, and Theresa presented their ongoing projects. If you want to find out more, check out the recording of the Maratón here.

And before everyone started off into the christmas holidays, we joined a joyful christmas lunch at the EEZA on December 16th, celebrating a successful 2025 together.

01/12/2025

At the end of November, Theresa spent a week in Vienna, Austria. During her stay, she not only explored the Christmas markets that Vienna had to offer, but also used the time to brainstorm a new project on the charisma of invasive species together with Anna Schertler from the University of Vienna. During her stay, she gave a presentation to the department about her work with the title “From fish to plants to humans – Exploring the human dimensions of biological invasions”

15/11/2025

In November we welcomed Zarah Pattison from the University of Stirling, UK, for a short visit at the EEZA-CSIC. Zarah’s work focuses on community and ecosystem responses to invasive non-native species, especially plants. We used the time to catch up, discuss biological invasions over good coffees, and went to Cabo de Gata for some field work. She shared some of her work during her talk “Riverbanks as battlegrounds: How do invasive non-native plants change riparian habitats” at the EEZA-CSIC.

15/09/2025

We took part of the MIREN workshop!✨
Arnau and Paula from our team, participated in the MIREN — Mountain Invasion Research Network 🌄 workshop, held last week in Innsbruck, Austria. They joined through the project PRISMA: “Syndromes of recurrent plant invasions in mountain areas.”

🔍 What is MIREN?
MIREN investigates how global change — biological invasions, climate change, and land use — shapes the distribution of species in mountain regions. It collects data on native and alien plants along roads, trails, and rocky areas across elevational gradients to better understand community dynamics, the impacts of disturbances and invasive species, and strategies for management.

🌱 PRISMA Project
At the workshop, Paula and Arnau presented the latest progress of the PRISMA project, which analyzes the invasion contexts, impacts, and the effectiveness of existing management practices.

They strengthened collaborations and engaged in inspiring discussions with the MIREN community about the global patterns of plant invasions in mountain ecosystems 🌍⛰️.

26/05/2025

🌱✨ Invasive plants were at the heart of the discussions at the II Spanish Botany Congress.

Arnau Bosch Guiu, a PhD from the IRIS research group participated in the II Spanish Botany Congress, where he co-organized the symposium “Invasive flora: from cataloging to management, through ecology and evolutionary biology”. In this event, researchers shared experiences, challenges, and advances on the study of species that are reshaping our ecosystems.

In this context, he presented his PhD plan which is framed in the PRISMA project and is focused on identifying plant invasion syndromes in mountains at a global scale 🌍⛰️. Recurring patterns in contexts, dynamics, impacts, and management methods, will be analized aiming to improve prediction and response to biological invasions.

09/05/2025

IRIS had a busy Invasive Species week!

We joined the Macrobioblitz and encouraged visitors of the Cabo de Gata National Park to look out for invasive species and record any sightings using the iNaturalist app. We also organized a public debate on invasions at La Guajira in Almeria where participants could test their ability to recognise invaders and win a plant. This week, Ana and Paula were additionally busy as they were part of the organizing and scientific committees of the IyriCIS conference

We can’t wait to join another Invasive Species Week next year with better and more ideas 🙂

01/04/2025

IRIS’s first PHD student!!!

Arnau Bosh Guiu has officially started working at the EEZA as part of the IRIS team. Over the next four years he will be researching plant invasions in mountain ecosystems worldwide as part of the PRISMA project. He will use ecological modeling to assess the impacts of invasive species and to identify invasion syndromes.  

Welcome to the team, Arnau!! 🙂

21/03/2025

IRIS is growing! Let’s welcome Lucas and Lida!

After finishing his Master’s degree in Botany in Brazil, Lucas Borges de Lima has recently joined us for a short stay until the end of April. Lida Choursoglou also arrived earlier this month from Greece and will do a four-month internship with us. Both will support Paula in her project on the management of naturalized alien plant species in mountain areas. 

(IRIS selfie for Theresa’s birthday 🙂 )

19/02/2025

IRIS went to Prague!!

From 10th – 14th of February our team co-organised two exciting workshops that took place in the castle of Průhonice, Czech Republic.

The week started with the 2nd workshop on invasion culturomics, where Ana, Paula, and Theresa met with an international group of scientists discussing and exchanging ideas, projects, and future collaborations on using digital data to address biological invasions. 

The week continued with the 2nd SoNAF workshop on the social dimensions of Naturalized Alien Flora, discussing future steps and uses of this upcoming database.

We are excited to work on the outcomes of these workshops and the future developments on invasion Culturomics and SoNAF!

25/11/2024

Today, we had our first (of hopefully many) weekly IRIS team meetings to get to know each other & catch up on our projects, progresses and potential mishaps 🙂

We can’t wait to see where all our projects will lead to & what new ideas will come up in these meetings. Stay tuned!

If you want to find out more about our work, contact us!

27/09/2024 

At the end of September, Theresa Henke officially joined the IRIS team as a researcher. Theresa has spent the last 8 years in Iceland where she did her PhD on the alien European flounder in Icelandic waters, but now she has decided to switch it up and trade the Nordic cold for the Mediterranean sunshine. Theresa will continue doing research within the ongoing projects at IRIS on the human dimensions of biological invasions and how interdisciplinary approaches and novel tools (culturomics) can be used in invasion science.