Cristina is a PhD student in the Experimental Plant Biology program at Charles University. Her research, conducted under the supervision of Dr. Petr Kohout at the Institute of Microbiology of CAS, is in collaboration with Dr. Nadia Soudzilovskaia and Dr. Francois Rineau at the Ecotron at Hasselt University. Her work focuses on how climate change affects the composition and function of the heathland soil microbiome. Using a climate manipulation experiment, her PhD project aims to elucidate future shifts in soil microbial communities and functional potential within heathland ecosystems dominated by ericoid mycorrhizal vegetation. Previously, she completed her master’s thesis at the University of Western Ontario, where she investigated microbial community responses to experimental warming in boreal peatlands under the supervision of Dr. Vera Tai and Dr. Zoë Lindo.