Clara Zemp

Clara Zemp serves as Full Professor and Director of the Conservation Biology Laboratory at the University of Neuchâtel's Faculty of Science since 2021. She co-directs the Interdisciplinary Master's in Biodiversity Conservation and maintains affiliations with the Swiss Biodiversity Forum and Young Swiss Academy.

Her research centers on biodiversity conservation under global change, with expertise in oil palm plantation restoration through tree islands, Amazon forest resilience, and forest-climate interactions. Key projects include biodiversity enrichment in Sumatra, Swiss Jura wooded pastures, and climate-logging detection systems.

Her publications reveal strong focus on tropical ecosystem restoration, demonstrating how tree islands enhance structural complexity and biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. Recent work emphasizes climate-vegetation feedbacks in the Amazon and practical agroforestry applications.

• Dissertation Prize from Xavier Bernard Foundation of French Academy of Agriculture (2013)
• Merian Prize from European Society for Tropical Ecology (2015)

She actively promotes science-policy dialogue through the Swiss Young Network for Science Policy (SYNESPOD) and advises multiple international restoration initiatives including TRAILS program in Malaysia and TreeDivNet network. Her teaching covers conservation biology at Bachelor and Master levels.