You wouldn’t guess it from the amount of work she has already put into getting the global MIREN Rocks network off the ground and moving forward, but Sarane is only at the very beginning of her scientific trajectory. That trajectory just received a major boost: Sarane has been awarded an FNRS FRIA doctoral grant, allowing her to start a PhD on her beloved rock cliffs and their ecology.

This is a fantastic achievement for her, and wonderful news for us as a team. It gives us the certainty that MIREN Rocks can now deliver much more in-depth science than would have been possible without her central role.

In her PhD, co-supervised by Alain Vanderpoorten (University of Liège) and myself (Utrecht University), and in close collaboration with Koenraad Van Meerbeek (KU Leuven), Sarane will work with the global vegetation database collected by MIREN Rocks partners worldwide. In parallel, she will zoom in on the mechanisms shaping rock vegetation in the Meuse valley (Wallonia). There, we will develop high-resolution microclimate models using in-situ sensors and drone-derived digital surface models, and set up a split-plot experiment to assess the role of physical (vegetation removal) and chemical (climbing chalk) disturbance on cliff vegetation.

And this is only the beginning – there is much more in the pipeline for this PhD and for the global MIREN Rocks network. So if you love cliffs even one tenth as much as Sarane does, I strongly recommend following her work.

The best place to do so? Instagram, via @mirenrocks.

Congrats again, Sarane, and looking forward to work together further the coming years!