Miriam Liedvogel is Director of the Institute for Bird Research “Vogelwarte Helgoland” and Professor of Ornithology at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg. She is fascinated by bird migration and wants to use her research to understand how this behavior is controlled, coordinated and regulated at the molecular level.

Miriam has been awarded prizes for her research, her commitment to science communication and research mentoring, speaks regularly at national and international conferences, and also enjoys sharing her enthusiasm for her research with children and the general public. She is also fascinated by the connection between art and science - she regularly combines these two disciplines through illustrations for children's books, scientific support for exhibition content and conceptual design of teaching materials.

Watch this video clip to find out more about Miriam's research focus, the key questions she is addressing and the wider significance of these findings.

Emilia Tikka is a Finnish-born designer, artist and researcher currently based in Berlin. Her work explores shifting human relations to technoscientific worlds. Emilia's often collaborative artworks use speculation as a methodology to explore the 'in-between' of different ways of knowing, cosmologies and practices. Her personal artistic practice includes filmmaking, designed objects and laboratory experiments. She is currently a PhD candidate at Aalto University, School of Arts, Design and Architecture in Helsinki and a member of the Cluster of Excellence Matters of Activity, Humboldt University in Berlin. She has been awarded a personal grant from the Kone Foundation and has been selected for several art/science residencies, including the CRISPR-residency at the bioscience labs of the Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin, Tokyo Art and Science, Art4med, MetaLab Basel, and others. Her work has been exhibited internationally at EMMA Museum of Modern Art, Tekniska Museet, New York University Arts Centre Abu Dhabi, Gregg Museum for Art and Design, Ars Electronica, Copernicus Science Center and others. She has been featured in Süddeutsche Zeitung, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, ARTE and Nature, among others.