I’m Shikhara, a PhD student in Dr. Hanna Kokko’s group at JGU. I am an evolutionary ecologist broadly interested in using mathematical modelling to uncover broad generalities in systems that feature an intricate interplay between ecological and evolutionary processes. For my Master’s dissertation, I worked on using mathematical tools from stochastic processes and statistical physics to analytically describe how demographic stochasticity affects the eco-evolutionary dynamics of finite populations. For my PhD, I’m currently interested in questions pertaining to sexual dimorphism (broadly, how it relates to sympatric speciation and coexistence theory) and the evolution of aging (broadly, modelling ‘function-valued’ traits that confer fitness differently at different points of an organism’s life and how this affects the evolution of senescence).

Positions held 

Since 2024   
PhD student, Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz
Education

2018 - 2023   
BS-MS at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune, India