T. Frede Thingstad becomes Professor Emeritus
In connection with T. Frede Thingstad becoming Professor Emeritus at the University of Bergen from 2017, a seminar was held at the University of Bergen and Hjort Centre for Marine Ecosystem Dynamics on December 2nd to bring Frede’s work into an international perspective and celebrate his professional and collegial achievements.
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Frede has been central to the development of marine microbial ecology since its beginning in the 1970s, where he contributed to the formalization of the ‘microbial loop’ concept. In the 1990s, he became professor at the University of Bergen and introduced the term ‘Killing-the-Winner’, which became an important and highly cited concept to understand various aspects of microbial ecology and evolution. Frede has been awarded with the prestigious ERC Advanced Grant for a project on Microbial Network Organization, and he has received the ‘Prize for Outstanding Research’ of the Norwegian Research Counctil (know as ‘Møbius Prize’). He is also member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and Professor of Honor at the University of Crete.
A signature in Frede’s work are conceptual models of the microbial food web that help understand observed dynamics and make predictions about the structure and function in microbial communities, witnessing of a successful combination of theory development and experimental work.
Frede is recognized as a world-leading scientist in the field, while at the same time being highly appreciated as an outstanding colleague and mentor for young scientists. These wonderful achievements were celebrated in a memorable fashion with invited speakers and colleagues and friends from near and afar.
