On January 1, 2026, Dr. Margaret Owuor will take up her role as Professor with tenure at the University of Bern, an appointment confirmed after a comprehensive Faculty of Science review. The decision reflects the quality and coherence of her research, teaching, and academic leadership.

Before joining the University of Bern in January 2022, she worked at South Eastern Kenya University, Kenya, progressing from Assistant Lecturer to Lecturer after completing her Ph.D. in 2017, and later serving as Head of the Department of Hydrology and Aquatic Sciences.

Born in Alego, Siaya County, Kenya, Margaret completed her studies in Kenya and Europe. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Education Science (Zoology and Botany) and an MSc in Fisheries Science from Kenyatta University, an MSc in Water and Coastal Management (University of Plymouth, UK, and University of Cádiz, Spain), and a PhD in Marine and Coastal Management (University of Cádiz, Spain and University of Algarve, Portugal).

At the Wyss Academy, Dr. Owuor leads the Integrative Biodiversity Conservation Science team. Her work brings together ecosystem-services science and participatory approaches to understand how biodiversity supports people’s lives and how policy can reflect that reality. The team focuses on practical questions: how to design conservation that benefits nature and people, how to turn conflicts into co-benefits, and how to build the institutions that sustain change. Much of this takes place in close collaboration with partners in the Global South, and in Bern through teaching, mentoring, and science–policy dialogue with students and early-career researchers.

This appointment matters beyond titles. It recognizes a way of working that is both inclusive and rigorous, and it reinforces the bridge our institution depends on—connecting science to decisions, and decisions to everyday practice. It also speaks to the human side of academic life: building confidence in younger colleagues, co-creating with communities, and staying attentive to what evidence means for governance and livelihoods.

We congratulate Dr. Owuor on this milestone and look forward to continued exchange with colleagues across the Institute of Ecology and Evolution (Department of Biology), University of Bern, and the Wyss Academy for Nature.