January will bring a short scientific mission to France, the ever beautiful country of old cities and amazing culture, and recently taking a prominent spot in global news.

Pictures from Meaux, a city close to Paris.

I will head to Amiens, in the north of the country, where I will visit a colleague. He is a specialist in species distribution modelling, the models that will be the main focus of the second half of my PhD.

There are some tricks and rules I really need to learn before I feel confident enough to play a role in this part of ecology, and he is the best guide I could imagine.

There is some big stories to tell about plant invasions in the mountains, and I am lucky enough to have access to exactly the dataset suited to tell these stories, and the help of people who have experience in telling such stories.

So next year dinitely promises to be interesting!