Dr. Oscar Alberto Rojas Castillo | Freshwater biology | Most Reader’s Article Award

From 2023 to June 2024, Dr. Oscar Alberto Rojas Castillo served as a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Biology Department at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. His responsibilities included grant writing and study design for research proposals such as MARIE CURIE, VILLUM FONDEM, and DFF. He engaged in scientific writing and dissemination, contributing two scientific publications and overseeing two manuscripts. Dr. Rojas Castillo conducted data analysis and statistical work in R, including rarefactions, multivariate analyses (NMDS, CCA, PCA, RDA, PCOA), and various models (lme, lm, GAM, GLM). He also facilitated communication with stakeholders and led cross-functional collaborations with stakeholders like landowners, park rangers, NGOs, farmers, and companies, as well as researchers from diverse fields. During this period, he submitted three grant applications focused on tropical biodiversity, incorporating feedback from stakeholders, and published two papers. From 2020 to 2023, Dr. Rojas Castillo pursued his Ph.D. in the Biology Department at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. His tasks included study design, securing funding such as the Talent Ph.D. Fellowship Grant, and conducting extensive data collection in both field and lab settings, particularly focusing on water, macroinvertebrate, and e-DNA sampling. He conducted GIS analysis, mapping and estimating stream watersheds, characterizing watershed land-use, and creating maps. Dr. Rojas Castillo managed data and performed statistical analyses in R, including meta-analysis and multivariate techniques like PCA, CCA, and NMDS, as well as modeling (lm, nlme, SEM) and hypothesis testing (ANOVA, KW, t-test, Wilcoxon-test). He actively engaged in scientific writing, publishing 4-5 scientific papers and conducting workshops in Latin America and Denmark. Additionally, he taught university courses and collaborated internationally. In 2016-2017, Dr. Rojas Castillo served as a Teaching & Research Assistant at the University of San Carlos in Guatemala. His responsibilities included administrative management and planning, organizing dissemination events such as conferences and forums, and managing a research database. He supported programs in Biodiversity Management and Water Quality and taught laboratory practices in Physio-anatomy, Genetics I, Cyto-embryology, and Zoology. He successfully completed and managed a comprehensive research database for the University and contributed to the establishment of the Biodiversity Management program, organizing several major dissemination events and instructing laboratory sessions.

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