About
Susanne Åkesson is a Professor at Lund University's Department of Biology, where she leads the Animal Navigation Lab and serves as Principal Investigator at the Center for Animal Movement Research (CAnMove), which she has directed since 2008. She is also a member of Lund University's Profile Areas: Natural and Artificial Cognition and Light and Materials, as well as part of eSSENCE: The e-Science Collaboration.
Her research focuses on animal navigation and migration, particularly in birds, with expertise spanning sensory ecology, movement patterns, and the intersection of biology and physics. She studies how animals navigate using skylight polarization and Earth's magnetic field, with notable projects including continental-wide tracking of common swifts documenting their 10-month non-stop flights. Her work connects biology with physics through studies on Viking navigation, zebra coat coloration, and animal navigation mechanisms.
Her 215+ publications reveal a strong focus on migration phenotypes, endogenous migration programs, and how animals adapt to long migrations. Recent work emphasizes conservation applications, with studies mapping migratory routes using pan-European telemetry networks and assessing threats to migratory species in the Anthropocene. Her research combines large-scale field experiments, tracking technology, and innovative remote sensing methods like lidar systems for monitoring insect movement.
Awarded the Silver medal for excellence in research and communication from the Swedish Ornithological Society (2009), she is also a Fellow of the Royal Institute for Navigation in London (2006), the Royal Physiographic Society in Lund (2010), and the Royal Academy of Sciences in Stockholm (2016). Her popular science communication includes books nominated for the August Prize and regular contributions to Swedish National Radio's 'Naturmorgon' program since 2002.
She teaches undergraduate courses in Evolutionary Animal Ecology and Ornithology and has developed Lund University's international PhD course on 'Ecology of Animal Migration' since 1999. Her current research projects include evolutionary ecology of avian migration (Swedish Research Council, 2023-2027) and species-specific adaptations to migration in songbirds (Carl Tryggers Foundation, 2024-2026).
