Lisa-Maria Schmidt is a Ph.D. student at the School of Zoology (Tel-Aviv University) since 2021. Her research focuses on the ecology and reproduction of broadcast spawners, using novel genomics tools. Her interest for marine biology already arose as an undergraduate student (2010-2015) at the department of Integrative Zoology (University of Vienna) and proceeded during her MSc (2015-2019) at the same faculty. Lisa worked as a teaching assistant (2016-2019) for various courses in Vienna and now continues teaching at the IUI (The Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences) in Eilat. In 2015, Lisa decided to start a second master’s degree in Vienna (Conservation Biology and Biodiversity Management) to combine science and applied nature conservation. In 2019 she started a technical position within the frame of an EU sponsored project at the Natural History Museum in Vienna (NHMW) focusing on the phylogeny and evolution of echinoderms. In the same year Lisa became a lecturer for molecular phylogenetics at the University of Vienna.