Overview
I am a freelance scientific illustrator, based in London & working on various projects with clients around the world.
Curriculum Vitae
Education
Palaeobiology MPhil
MPhil on the climatic constraints on the diversity of eutherian terrestrial mammals in South America during the Cenozoic at the University College London & Natural History Museum of London, funded by the Royal Society of Science. (2018-viva in April/May 2023).
Palaeobiology MSc
MSc in Systematics, Evolution and Palaeontology at the Natural History Museum of Paris (MNHN) and Paris VI University Pierre & Marie Curie (2016-2018) Mention “Bien”. Modules studied include ; Palaeobiogeography, Major palaeontological events, Multivariate Statistics, Vertebrate Anatomy and Functional Morphology.
Geology BSc
BSc in Geology and Geoenvironment at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (2012-2016). 8.29/10. University scholarship and award for best entry in exams to higher education Institutions by the State Scholarship Foundation of Greece (SSF). Modules studied include ; Palaeoclimatology, Palaeogeography and Paleoecology
Scientific publications
Jones LA, Gearty W, Allen BJ, Eichenseer K, Dean CD, Galván S, Kouvari M, Godoy PL, Nicholl C, Buffan L, Flannery-Sutherland JT, Dillon E, Chiarenza AA (2023). palaeoverse: a community-driven R package to support palaeobiological analysis. Methods in Ecology & Evolution (in proofs).
Dillon E, Dunne E, Womack T, Kouvari M, Larina E, Claytor JR, Ivkić A, Juhn M, Milla Carmona P, Robson SV, Saha A, Villafaña J & Zill M (2023). Challenges and directions in analytical paleobiology. Paleobiology: First View (1 – 17).
Kouvari M, Herrel A & Cornette R (2021). Humans and climate as possible drivers of the morphology and function of the mandible of Suncus etruscus in Corsica. Journal of Archaeological Science 132 (105434).
Kouvari M & van der Geer A (2018). Biogeography of extinction: The demise of insular mammals from the Late Pleistocene till today. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology (505) : 295-304. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.06.008
Kouvari M & van der Geer A (2019). A Corrigendum to “Biogeography of Extinction: the demise of insular mammals from the Late Pleistocene till today” [PALAEO 505 (15 September 2018) pages 295–304]. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.01.024
Lyras GA, Giannakopoulou A, Kouvari M & Papadopoulos GC (2017). The evolution in gyrification in Carnivores” Brain, Behaviour & Evolution (88) : 187-203. https://doi.org/10.1159/000453104
talks
Kouvari M (14 February 2023) "South American climate & the Andes influence eutherian mammal diversity through time & latitude". PalaeoPERCS seminar series.
Kouvari M (10 January 2020) "Neogene South American mammals: a tale of changing climates & continents colliding". Darwin Day at the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle (MNHN) in Paris (Invited speaker).
Kouvari M (BES Macroecology 2021 flash talk) "Abiotic controls on the evolution of eutherian mammal diversity in the Cenozoic of South America".
Kouvari M (CPEG 2021 best lightning talk award) "Climate change and its effect on mammalian diversity in the Cenozoic of South America".
Kouvari M (SVP 2020 flash talk) "Macroevolutionary patterns & the appearance of the modern-day Latitudinal Biodiversity Gradient in South American terrestrial eutherian mammals".
Kouvari M (ProgPal 2020 flash talk) "Diversity patterns of terrestrial eutherian mammals and the first appearance of the modern-day Latitudinal Biodiversity Gradient in South America".
Kouvari M (10 January 2020) "Neogene South American mammals: a tale of changing climates & continents colliding". Darwin Day at the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle (MNHN) in Paris (Invited speaker).
Kouvari M (BES Macroecology 2021 flash talk) "Abiotic controls on the evolution of eutherian mammal diversity in the Cenozoic of South America".
Kouvari M (CPEG 2021 best lightning talk award) "Climate change and its effect on mammalian diversity in the Cenozoic of South America".
Kouvari M (SVP 2020 flash talk) "Macroevolutionary patterns & the appearance of the modern-day Latitudinal Biodiversity Gradient in South American terrestrial eutherian mammals".
Kouvari M (ProgPal 2020 flash talk) "Diversity patterns of terrestrial eutherian mammals and the first appearance of the modern-day Latitudinal Biodiversity Gradient in South America".
posters
Kouvari M, Mannion P & Goswami A (NHM student conference 2020) "Paleoe nvironmental constraints on the distribution of
terrestrial eutherian diversity in the Neogene of South America: some preliminary results".
Kouvari M, Herrel A & Cornette R (SVP 2019 Colbert Prize winner) "What can morphological changes through time tell us about diet & human-driven habitat changes? The case of the Etruscan shrew in Corsica".
Kouvari M, Mannion PD & Goswami A (ProgPal 2019) "Climatic constraints on the distribution of Neogene terrestrial eutherian mammal diversity".
Kouvari M & van der Geer A (IBS 2019). “Extinction patterns of insular mammals from the Late Pleistocene till today”.
Kouvari M, Herrel A & Cornette R (SVPCA 2018). “Evolution of the functional morphology of the Corsican shrew’s mandible (Suncus etruscus): a story between climate, man and island”.
Kouvari M (Proceedings of the 5th Young Natural History scientists’ Meeting, Paris, 2018) “Morpho-functional study of the stylopod in Rhinocerotidae : a 3D approach”.
Kouvari M (Proceedings of the 13th International Congress of Zoogeography and Ecology of Greece and Adjacent Regions, Heraklion, Crete, p. 142, 2015) “Late Pleistocene and Holocene mammal extinctions on Eastern Mediterranean and Philippine islands”.
Teaching experience
Author of the online module “mammalian evolution” in the Vertebrate Palaeontology moodle course, led by Dr Sebastian Groh (UCL).
Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) in the 4-day Dorset fieldtrip for First Year Undergraduates led by Prof. Paul Bown (Autumn/Winter semester 2020-2023 UCL)
Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) in the Vertebrate Palaeontology & Evolution for Second Year Undergraduates & the Biodiversity & Macroevolutionary Patterns for Third year undergraduates both led by Dr. Sebastian Groh (Autumn/Winter semester 2019-2022 UCL)
Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) in the Animal Biodiversity for Second Year Undergraduates led by Dr. Julia Day (Autumn/Winter semester 2019-2022 UCL)
Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) in the 4-day Dorset fieldtrip for First Year Undergraduates led by Prof. Eric Oelkers (April 2019 UCL)
Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) in the following courses: Solar System Geosciences (by Dr. Ashley King), Stratigraphy (by Dr. Mark Sutton) & Graphics (by Dr. Alan Spencer) (2018-2019 Imperial College)
Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) in the 1-day Charnwood fieldtrip for First Year Undergraduate students led by Dr. Mark Sutton (October 2018 Imperial College)
Organizing committee experience
ProgPal organiser hosting the conference at UCL (remotely) in 2021.
member of the organising committee hosting of the London-based Vertebrate Palaeontology Journal Club (2020).
member of the NHM student committee hosting the NHM student conference in 2020.
Science outreach
Sci-comm mediator leading a 1-hour workshop on fossils & evolution for year 6 primary school children at the St John’s Highbury Vale Primary School.
Sci-comm mediator at the “Fossil Fact or Fiction” science stall at the Einstein’s garden of the Green Man festival 2019. Stall organized by Dr. Chris Dean. We introduced the idea of fossil biases and Ecological Niche Modelling with 3 different activities for all ages.
Volunteer mediator at the Mineralogy Museum of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (2015). Duration : 6 months. Supervisor : Dr. Katerinopoulos A
Museum curator experience
Junior curator of the amphibian and reptile collection of Early Triassic Madagascar of the Natural History Museum of Paris (MNHN) (2016). Duration : 2 months. Supervisor : Dr. Germain
Volunteer curator of the mammal collection of South America (Salla, Santa Cruz and Casamayor) of the Natural History Museum of Paris (MNHN) (2016). Duration : 3 months. Supervisor : Dr. Billet G
Volunteer curator of the Pikermian fauna collections at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (2012). Duration : 6 months. Supervisor : Dr. Theodorou
Workshops training
Visual skills for communicating your science: a 1-week workshop by Dr Cirenia Arias Baldrich, organised by Transmitting Science (2022).
Introduction to Bayesian inference in practice: a 1-week workshop by Dr Daniele Silvestro & Dr Tobias Andermann, organised by Transmitting Science (2020).
Analytical Paleobiology Workshop (APW): a 4-week intense workshop on the foundational & cutting-edge analytical methods in Palaeontology. It was hosted at the University of Riverside, California (UCR), organized by Dr Shanan Peters & Dr Seth Finnegan. The workshop was funded by the NSF, Earth Rates, the Paleontological Society & Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (2019).
Introduction to Ecological Niche Modelling (ENM): A 5-day workshop by Dr. Neftalí Sillero, organized by PRStatistics. It covers the base theory of ecological niche modelling, its main methodologies in R as well as one-to-one discussion on the application of ENM to each student’s project (2018).
Introduction to Shareholder quorum subsampling (SQS): A 1-day workshop by Dr Emma Dunne on the general theory and different subsampling methods, explanation of the key definitions of SQS and applied practice to applying SQS in R to Paleodb datasets (2018).
Drawing Nature, Science and Culture: Natural History Illustration by NewcastleX (NHI101x), online learning initiative of The University of Newcastle through edX (2017)