Introducing Lieke Ponsioen, co-founder of Ice Fish Research

Hello everyone, my name is Lieke, I’m 29 years old and I was born and raised in The Netherlands. Currently, I am a PhD student working on the Arctic charr (bleikja) in Thingvallavatn. Read further to get to know more about me!

Moving to Iceland

While I was not always sure I wanted to be a biologist I was always sure I wanted to live abroad. During my undergrad studies I did my internship abroad. I ended up working under the supervision of Arnar Pálsson at The University of Iceland. This is where I first got into contact with working with Icelandic salmonids. And honestly, I never looked back. After almost eight years I still work with salmonids and have lived in Iceland since then.

Research 

It is a joy to work with Arctic charr and to do fieldwork in Thingvallavatn. The lake is gorgeous and when the sun shines, being on a boat on the lake is the best place to be. I look forward to doing fieldwork every year. I did my MSc in Biology at HÍ and looked into how crossing two different morphs of Arctic charr affects their head shape. I did this by colouring bones and cartilage of very small Arctic charr and looking at their shape.

I very much enjoy working with Arctic charr and also love living in Iceland, so I decided to continue by doing a PhD. I am working on it at the moment. Now I am tracking the Arctic charr in Thingvallavatn to find out where they like to spend their time in the lake. This information will hopefully help us protect the Arctic charr in Thingvallavatn as they are not doing so great at the moment! 

About me

Research is not the only thing I do. I like to be outside and hike with my husband and son. And in the evenings you can find me in my reading chair with a fantasy or sci-fi book. 

Ice Fish Research

I am so excited to start this platform with Michelle, Theresa and Alessandra. We have known each other for a while now as the biology community in Iceland is not that large. We kept running into each other at conferences and it was always fun to catch up. But actually working together will be amazing. We are each passionate about our own projects but also about bringing the science and the people behind it to you. I’m sure this will be a big success.

A bit more about me

What is your favorite fish? To study, Arctic charr. To eat, cod 😊

What is your research topic? The when and where of Arctic charr in Thingvallavatn: how do the different morphs utilise their habitat.

What did you want to be when you grow up? I never knew what I wanted to do as a kid, so if you don’t know either don’t worry!

Where do you work? The University of Iceland in Reykjavík

What inspired your research? Working with charr for so many years made me realise how little we still know about where the charr likes to hang out at all times during the year. So now I am tracking them!

What is your favorite part of being a scientist? Finding out things that are not known yet! Also, specifically for being a PhD student, it is nice to have the freedom to shape your work.

How would you explain a scientist to a child? A scientist is someone who tries to figure out the things that are unknown no matter how big or small. What it means in the end, is that we spend a lot of time repeating our work to be sure that what we find is actually repeatable and not a fluke.

How would you explain your research to a child? I am trying to find out where the Arctic charr like to spend their time. Where do they swim?