{"id":1606,"date":"2026-09-16T17:41:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T15:41:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/bertelsmeiergroup\/?page_id=1606"},"modified":"2026-09-16T17:41:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T15:41:18","slug":"minsoo-dong","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/bertelsmeiergroup\/minsoo-dong\/","title":{"rendered":"Minsoo Dong"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I joined the Bertelsmeier Group in September 2026 as a PhD student. I am broadly interested in ant diversity, morphology, ecology, and evolution, with a particular interest in understanding the ecological and evolutionary significance of morphological diversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I began studying ants as an undergraduate in South Korea, initially focusing on taxonomy, biodiversity, and field biology at Kangwon National University. During a research internship at OIST in Japan, I worked with ant morphology, phenomics, and \u03bcCT datasets. I later moved to Germany for my MSc in Evolution, Ecology and Systematics at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, where my interests expanded into functional and evolutionary morphology and biomechanics. For my Master’s research, I investigated the evolution and biomechanical principles of the ant waist using \u03bcCT, SR-CT, 3D reconstruction, biomechanical modelling, and behavioural observations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For my PhD, I investigate the relationship between morphology and ecology in ants, with a particular focus on invasive species. By integrating large-scale \u03bcCT datasets with ecological, biogeographic, and phylogenetic information, I aim to understand how morphological traits vary across ecological strategies and whether morphological characteristics and phenotypic variation can help explain patterns of invasion success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fieldwork and scientific photography are also important parts of my work. I have conducted field surveys and documented ants across Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas, spanning tropical forests, deserts, and Mediterranean environments. A selection of my ant photography can be found on my website, AntShot (https:\/\/myrminsoo.netlify.app\/<\/a>), and on AntWiki.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"minsoo\"
minsoo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

CV <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2026\u2013present PhD student, Bertelsmeier Group, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
2023\u20132026 MSc in Evolution, Ecology and Systematics, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany
2024\u20132026 Visiting Scientist, Senckenberg Nature Museum, Germany
2024\u20132025 Research Assistant, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Germany
2023 Research Intern, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), Japan
2022 Research Assistant, National Institute of Biological Resources (NIBR), South Korea
2020 P3 Scholar, Princeton Prospective Ph.D. Preview (P3), Princeton University, USA
2017 Talent Award of Korea, Deputy Prime Minister, South Korea
2016\u20132020 BSc in Applied Biology, Kangwon National University, South Korea<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I joined the Bertelsmeier Group in September 2026 as a PhD student. I am broadly interested in ant diversity, morphology, ecology, and evolution, with a particular interest in understanding the ecological and evolutionary significance of morphological diversity. I began studying ants as an undergraduate in South Korea, initially focusing on taxonomy, biodiversity, and field biology […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1002055,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1606","page","type-page","status-publish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/bertelsmeiergroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/bertelsmeiergroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/bertelsmeiergroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/bertelsmeiergroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1002055"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/bertelsmeiergroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1606"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/bertelsmeiergroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1609,"href":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/bertelsmeiergroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1606\/revisions\/1609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/bertelsmeiergroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}