Fungal Footprints: A Research Adventure to Australia

Spotlight on ASAIN member Franziska Blattmann, and recipient of the SNSF Postdoc.Mobility Fellowship, who is working on unravelling a fungi’s mysterious past at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. 

Since I was a little kid, I had a love for nature, a thrill for the adventure, traveling to far off places and discovering new cultures. These interests were fuelled by the many books I enjoyed reading and supported by my family. After finishing my Matura (secondary school diploma) in Zürich, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do and spent some time looking around and second guessing my decisions. But after a few twists and turns, I eventually found my way to Earth Sciences at ETH Zürich, where my fascination with the history of evolving life and shifting climates took root. For many – including myself – it is difficult to imagine that Earth was once populated by organisms different from those of the modern world. During my bachelor and master thesis, I found that I really enjoyed research, it is like trying to solve a mystery or putting together a puzzle with a series of analysis.

After completing my PhD in 2023 at the University of Lausanne, I moved for my first PostDoc to Aarhus, Denmark. Both projects had a focus on gaining a better understanding of the coupling between changing climates, paleoenvironments and wildfire activity using organic molecules preserved in sedimentary records also known as biomarkers. Across these projects I kept stumbling over fungi and realized that we did not understand how fungi have evolved alongside changing climates, flora and fauna and how fungi have influenced biogeochemical cycles across geological timescales. These reoccurring questions led me to write up an SNSF PostDoc.Mobility grant and reach out to ARC Laureate fellow Kliti Grice whose work I had followed for years and admired.

In January 2026 I started my SNSF PostDoc.Mobility fellowship on the Fungal Footprints project at Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia working at the Western Australian Organic and Isotope Geochemistry Centre. The Fungal Footprints project is in collaboration with the National Herbarium Victoria at the Royal Botanical Gardens Melbourne with mycologist Tom May and paleobotanist David Cantrill. In the next two years I will be exploring fungal organic geochemical signatures in the modern environment, which can be preserved in the sedimentary record. This will help future studies show how fungi have changed with climate, biomes and natural disturbances, offering insights into their potential role in modulating ecosystem responses to climate change.

One of the great aspects of academic research is that it gives you the opportunity to travel not just for fieldwork, but to immerse yourself in and experience different cultures. I have thoroughly enjoyed the culture of the Léman region, the Danish hygge, and am now enjoying the sun‑soaked life of Perth. As a big lover of nature and hiking, I am in complete awe of the nature here. It is absolutely exquisite. Everywhere I go, I’m amazed by the beauty of the landscape, the smell of the eucalypt trees, the white beaches of Western Australia, the tree ferns in Tasmania and Victoria, and all the crazy, exotic marsupials that live here.

You can reach out and get in touch with Franziska via her Curtin University staff profile.

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