Professional summary

Els is a biogeochemist data scientist with expertise in data wrangling and statistical analyses of soil data in R, including large-scale monitoring, spatial and experimental data. At UKCEH, she is part of the Land Soil & Coast group of the Environmental Pressures and Responses science area. Next to her role as data scientist, Els is part of the data stewardship team who provide expert guidance in all aspects of data stewardship, data management plans, and data publication. She also acts as a data centre operative for the Environmental Information Data Centre, where she supports scientists to publish their data.

Els obtained a PhD in bioscience engineering from Ghent University in 2022, where she applied Bayesian statistics to study the soil legacy effects of tree species diversity. She remains interested in forest ecology and plant-soil feedbacks in an era of environmental change.

Selected publications

Vangansbeke Pieter et al. , (2025), Negative effects of forest edges and canopy opening on moth communities. Forest Ecology and Management, 585, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2025.122661

Depauw Leen et al. , (2024), Enhancing tree performance through species mixing: review of a quarter-century of TreeDivNet experiments reveals research gaps and practical insights. Current Forestry Reports, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40725-023-00208-y

Dhiedt Els et al. , (2024), Soil legacies of tree species composition in mature forest affect tree seedlings’ performance. Ecosystems, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10021-024-00923-y

Thomas A. et al. , (2024), Topsoil porosity prediction across habitats at large scales using environmental variables. Science of The Total Environment, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171158

Dhiedt Els et al. , (2023), Soil legacies of tree species richness in a young plantation do not modulate tree seedling response to watering regime. Plant Biology, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/plb.13597

Messier Christian et al. , (2021), For the sake of resilience and multifunctionality, let's diversify planted forests!. Conservation Letters, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/conl.12829