Monika Bright

Monika Bright is a Universitäts-Professor (Professor) in Functional and Evolutionary Ecology at the University of Vienna’s Faculty of Life Sciences. Her research focuses on microbial symbioses in extreme environments, particularly in deep-sea hydrothermal vents and cold seeps. She leads projects like 'Microbial symbioses in dynamic environments' and 'Environmental impact on giant ciliate mutualism', funded from 2019–2024. Her work contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals related to life below water.

Key research areas include symbiont ecology (Candidatus species), ciliate-microbial interactions, and vent ecosystem dynamics. She has published over 77 articles, with recent work on subseafloor animal communities (Nature Communications, 2024) and novel symbiotic species descriptions. Media coverage highlights her discovery of life beneath ocean floors near vents.

Monika Bright collaborates internationally, organizing events like WoBio conferences to address gender equity in academia. Her research spans genomics, microscopy techniques (NanoSIMS), and ecological modeling of chemosynthetic communities.