Susan Eshelman
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s-eshelman.bsky.social
Susan Eshelman
@s-eshelman.bsky.social
(she/her) Postdoc at RBGE, Research Associate Univ. of Edinburgh| Exploring global grassland diversity & drivers of grass functional traits 🌾🌍

🔎 Open to postdoc & research associate roles from early 2026

📬 DM to connect! 😊 linktr.ee/susan.eshelman
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Yesterday, I successfully defended my thesis! 🍾🥳🎉 Huge thanks to my committee –James Bullock (@jmbecologist.bsky.social), Tiina Särkinen, and Catherine Kidner – for an incredible viva experience discussing grasslands, traits, and conservation management. From now on, it’s Dr. Eshelman! 👩🏻‍🎓🌍🧪 #PhDone
Reposted by Susan Eshelman
Reposted by Susan Eshelman
Does anyone have specific leaf area (SLA) or leaf mass per area (LMA) measurements for adult leaves of #Eucalyptus pellita or #Corymbia tessellaris that they'd be willing to share with me?

🧪 #PlantTraits #ecophysiology #physiology #WildOz #botany #ecology #AusTraits
November 6, 2025 at 1:20 AM
Had such a beautiful day last week at @thebotanics.bsky.social new staff induction 🌿 Learned about the garden’s history, met new colleagues from across departments, and even got a peek 👀 inside the refurbished glasshouse before the plants return! #science #postdoclife
October 1, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Reposted by Susan Eshelman
Three years ago, I joined this fabulous group of researchers in western Norway for the sixth Plant Functional Traits Course. Now, we've published the dataset covering morphological traits, spectroscopy, carbon flux, and more:

doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05509-4

🧪 #OpenAccess #Botany #PlantTraits 🧵
September 19, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Really enjoyed the ACE Early Career Symposium yesterday! Great to present my work on intraspecific adaptations of Scottish grasses, chat with other early career academics, and hear from the panel on the many different ways careers can develop. Thanks to the ACE team for hosting an incredible event!
September 2, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Yesterday I started as a Research Fellow in Biodiversity Science at @thebotanics.bsky.social ! 🌿 Over the next 6 months I’ll be continuing my work exploring Madagascar’s biodiversity and ecosystem dynamics… and enjoying more time in the beautiful gardens😍 #postdoc
August 12, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Last week I was at the @bes-rewildinggroup.bsky.social workshop in Northumberland 🌿 Great to connect with researchers & practitioners from northern England & Scotland to discuss UK #rewilding- challenges, new tech 🎮, long-term monitoring, & the value of collaboration! Lots to think about! 🤔
July 17, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Reposted by Susan Eshelman
That's a wrap! Thank you to the wonderful attendees of our inaugural @bes-rewildinggroup.bsky.social field event with @northwildlife.bsky.social and with support from @britishecologicalsociety.org . I have learnt loads & met many excellent people working on #rewilding in the region! 👍🌱
July 11, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Reposted by Susan Eshelman
Brilliant day this week on the Tropical East Asian Savanna Network workshop- out on Salisbury Crags with the Global Grassy Group practicing ground layer data collection and loving the #grasses! @s-eshelman.bsky.social @wieczor.bsky.social @naomibschwartz.bsky.social @royalsoced.bsky.social
June 27, 2025 at 7:02 PM
This week I attended the Tropical East Asian Savanna Symposium at RBGE and helped lead a Global Grassy Group Surveying workshop with visiting researchers in Holyrood Park. It’s been great connecting with scientists working in a region I haven’t explored much in my own research 🌏🌾😊
June 26, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Reposted by Susan Eshelman
The Tropical East Asian Savanna Symposium is today! Join us in person or online to hear from some truly fantastic speakers. Online via teams
Meeting ID: 374 127 860 994 5
Passcode: Yq3je9Jo
or in person at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 9:30-4:30
@royalsoced.bsky.social
🌐🌏 #ecology #savanna
June 24, 2025 at 6:27 AM
Out in the Pentlands yesterday with the first-year field ecology students, playing the role of ‘grass specialist’. Shared some ID tips for common UK grasses –fingers crossed I converted a few into budding grass enthusiasts. 🌾👀 #grassgang #fieldecology

🧪 🌍 🌱
June 5, 2025 at 5:00 PM
As an international PhD graduate who has lived in the UK for almost 5 years, the recent changes to immigration guidelines are devastating. (1/6)

#InternationalStudents #AcademicLife #UKImmigration #PhDLife
“We recognise the importance of graduate visa holders getting good jobs. Therefore we will make it harder for them to do so by making their prospects more insecure and deterring employers from offering them good jobs.”
May 16, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Yesterday, I successfully defended my thesis! 🍾🥳🎉 Huge thanks to my committee –James Bullock (@jmbecologist.bsky.social), Tiina Särkinen, and Catherine Kidner – for an incredible viva experience discussing grasslands, traits, and conservation management. From now on, it’s Dr. Eshelman! 👩🏻‍🎓🌍🧪 #PhDone
May 9, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Submitted my thesis today 🥳🥳🥳 It’s been a journey—wild, exhausting, amazing 🌾🌾🌾Thanks to everyone who help me along the way! Next step… viva (after some well deserved weeks off 😊)
March 27, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Reposted by Susan Eshelman
Fantastic FunkyBio presentations from @anyacourtenay.bsky.social @wieczor.bsky.social @adamdevenish.bsky.social @s-eshelman.bsky.social @jess-rickenback.bsky.social at the Savanna Science Network Meeting. Thanks to SANParks for always hosting a brilliantly collegiate conference. Till 2026!
March 15, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Feeling grateful for the opportunity to attend #SSNM2025 and share my work on Malagasy grasses 🌾. After an incredible week in the bush🐆🦓🦏🐘🦒, it’s time to head back to reality—just three weeks left to wrap up my PhD! 😅
March 8, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Tomorrow (9.30), I’ll be giving a quick talk at #SSNM2025 on Malagasy 🇲🇬 grassy flora—using herbarium traits to explore how top-down and bottom-up drivers shape grass structures and life history strategies. Looking forward to sharing this work from my PhD! 🌾🌾🌾
March 5, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Halfway through #SSNM2025 and it’s been wild so far! 🐘🐆🦓Great science, great people, and great game drives! What more could I ask for? 🤷🏻‍♀️
March 4, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Reposted by Susan Eshelman
Applications for the 2025 TBA Field Course are still open!

Visit tropical-biology.org/courses/ for more information and to submit your application.

Share this opportunity with interested and qualified applicants.
Deadline: 14th March 2025
January 22, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Reposted by Susan Eshelman
Not just USA: L'Oreal offers awards for women postdocs around the world. Application deadlines vary. For the Aus/NZ award, you just need to be based in the region, no citizenship requirement.

www.forwomeninscience.com/map/

🧪 #WomenInSTEM
January 29, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Reposted by Susan Eshelman
Senior scientists who will be reviewing tenure & promotion files in the future - please remember that the effects of many of these executive orders will disproportionately affect researchers from marginalized groups - often the same folks penalized by COVID-related delays, childcare issues, etc. 🧪
January 29, 2025 at 3:00 AM
Reposted by Susan Eshelman
Reiterating my call to fellow federally-funded scientists: Call your reps, tell them how this hurts science and everything good that comes from science

(Also non-scientists, and scientists without federal funding! But the more of us who can directly speak to the impacts of these freezes the better)
The National Science Foundation cancelled over 60 grant review panels today, effectively grinding funding of new projects to a halt.

The so-far indefinite pause comes as NSF grapples with the impact Trump's executive orders will have on their grantmaking process.
www.npr.org/sections/sho...
National Science Foundation freezes grant review in response to Trump executive orders
The National Science Foundation has cancelled all grant review panels this week. It's unclear how long the pause could last.
www.npr.org
January 28, 2025 at 12:26 AM
Reposted by Susan Eshelman
Enjoy an alpine grassland? Take a quick trip to 4000 m asl in Bhutan to think about encroachment from work led by Tshering Dorji (not on 🔵 ☁️). globalgrassygroup.github.io//2023/12/01/...
Above clouds and among yaks & shrubs: Investigating woody encroachment in the alpine rangelands of Bhutan
Tshering Dorji, December 2024
globalgrassygroup.github.io
January 14, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Reposted by Susan Eshelman
We're offering a PhD place on Rewilding!

This PhD will study the wilder grazing at Purbeck Heaths ‘Super National Nature Reserve’, which is shifting towards the restoration of natural processes to create a more dynamic, complex landscape
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
November 28, 2024 at 11:48 AM