Rate My Professor Philip Thomsen

Philip Francis Thomsen is a Professor in the Department of Biology, section for Genetics, Ecology and Evolution at Aarhus University, Faculty of Natural Sciences. He holds additional affiliations with the Arctic Research Centre and the Centre for Ecological Genetics, where he serves as Co-PI. Thomsen's research specializes in molecular ecology, with a primary focus on environmental DNA (eDNA) obtained from environmental samples through high-throughput DNA sequencing. His group investigates fundamental and applied questions in ecology and conservation, conducting analyses at species, community, and population levels, predominantly on animal eDNA while also employing comprehensive tree-of-life approaches. His interests encompass biodiversity monitoring, evolution, natural history, and entomology.

Thomsen has produced 81 research outputs, comprising 57 journal articles among others. Prominent publications include 'Environmental DNA–An emerging tool in conservation for monitoring past and present biodiversity' (Biological Conservation, 2015), 'Monitoring endangered freshwater biodiversity using environmental DNA' (Molecular Ecology, 2012), 'Next-generation monitoring of aquatic biodiversity using environmental DNA metabarcoding' (Molecular Ecology, 2016), and 'Detection of a diverse marine fish fauna using environmental DNA from seawater samples' (PLoS ONE, 2012). Recent works feature 'The Microflora Danica atlas of Danish environmental microbiomes' (Nature, 2026) and 'Recent Demographic History Inferred From Allele Frequency Spectra: Evaluation by Simulations and Insights From Pool Sequencing of Wild Bees' (Molecular Ecology, 2026). With over 16,000 citations, his pioneering eDNA methodologies have profoundly influenced conservation biology by enabling non-invasive detection and monitoring of biodiversity. He contributed to projects such as population monitoring of wolves in Denmark from 2017 to 2021.