Cédric Scherer

About Me

I am a graduated computational ecologist by training and an independent data visualization specialist/designer by heart with extensive hypothesis-driven research experience and strong skills in data wrangling, statistical analysis, model development, and data visualization.

I have created visualizations across all disciplines, purposes, and styles and regularly teach data visualization principles as well as basic and advanced ggplot2 techniques.

Data Visualization

I have been working as an independent data visualization specialist since the beginning of 2020. Since then I have worked for a large number of clients as a designer, consultant, analyst, and workshop instructor in the field of data visualization and reproducible analysis. I am constantly strengthening my skills in design and have built a diverse portfolio covering a wide range of topics, chart types, purposes, and tools by contributing to self-led personal projects and numerous data visualization challenges such as TidyTuesday, #30DayMapChallenge, and #30DayChartChallenge.

    →  Have a look at my portfolio
    →  Watch my most-recent talks

Computational Ecology

I am working as a scientific researcher (PostDoc) in the Department “Ecological Dynamics” at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) in Berlin, Germany. As a computational scientist, I apply analytic and mechanistic modeling approaches to answer questions related to the movement ecology of animals and the dynamics of populations, communities and diseases in space and time. In 2019, I was awarded a Ph.D. degree in Ecology (Dr. rer. nat.) at the University of Potsdam as part of the BioMove research training group.

    →  Read my publications
    →  Learn more about my research

My favorite tool for all data-related tasks is R, an open source and highly extensible language for statistical computing and graphics techniques. To visualize data I mainly utilize the package {ggplot2} from the {tidyverse} package collection including many more that I use on a daily basis for all kinds of data preparation and analysis. More recently, I find myself enjoying a lot using other, non-programing design and charting tools such as Figma, DataWrapper, and Flourish.

Contact

Dr. rer. nat. Cédric Scherer

Curriculum Vitae

• Education & Professional Expericence
• Teaching
• Publications
• Presentations
• Awards & Honors
• Skills
• Memberships & Services

Education & Professional Experience

• Independent Data Visualization Specialist (since 2020)
• Self-employed, Berlin, Germany
• Services: Graphic design, cartography, reproducible data analysis, statistical modeling, consulting, workshops (Tools: R, Shiny, Figma, DataWrapper, Flourish, RAWgraphs, SQL, html, CSS)
• Scientific Researcher (PostDoc) (since 2019)
• Department of Ecological Dynamics, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW), Berlin, Germany
• Topics:Movement ecology, population dynamics, disease ecology, coexistence theory
• Tasks: Data analysis, statistical and mechanistic modeling, spatial analysis, data visualization, cartography, software development, code management, lab support and supervision (Tools: R, QGIS, NetLogo)
• Ph.D. in Ecology (2015–2019)
• Department of Ecological Dynamics, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW), Berlin, Germany within the DFG Research Trainign Group “BioMove”, University of Potsdam, Germany
• Topics: Movement ecology, disease ecology, population dynamics, coexistence theory
• Tasks: Mechanistic and analytical modeling, spatial analysis, data visualization, R package development (Tools: R, Shiny, NetLogo, QGIS)
• Speaker SIG “Young Modellers in Ecology” (2015–2019)
• Young Modellers in Ecology (YoMos), Special Interest Group of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria & Switzerland (GfOe)
• Tasks: Lead of the organizational teams, conference chair, workshop instructor
• Visiting Research Student (2017)
• Getz Lab, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
• Topics: Evolutionary biology, disease ecology, population dynamics, theoretical ecology
• Tasks: Developing genetic algorithms for agent-based models (Tool: Numerus modelling platform)
• Research Assistant (2015)
• Department of Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation, University of Potsdam, Germany within the DFG Priority Program “Infrastructure-Biodiversity-Exploratories”
• Tasks: Mechanistic modeling, literature research, proposal writing (Tools: R, Netlogo, C++)
• M.Sc. in Ecology, Evolution and Nature Conservation (2011–2014)
• University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
• Topics: Computational ecology, climate change biology, population dynamics, dryland ecology
• Tasks: Deterministic and stohastic modeling, data collection, data analysis (Tools: R, C++, MatLab, SPSS)
• Internship (2011)
• “AgroScapeLabs”, Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Muencheberg, Germany
• Tasks: Catching, collaring and analysis of movement data of red foxes, raccoons and brown hares (Tools: R, QGIS)
• B.Sc. in Life Sciences (2008–2011)
• University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
• Topics: Organismic biology, movement ecology, animal behavior
• Tasks: Data collection, processing, statistical modeling (Tools: R, MatLab, Excel)

Teaching

• “Hands-on data visualization with ggplot2: how to create engaging and well-designed visualizations in R”
  (Pearson/O'Reilly Live Training Event , 5 hours, remote, Sep 2021)
• “Data visualization with {ggplot2}: 2–day course on data visualization principles and beautiful plotting in R”
  (Workshop for BioMove Research Training Group, 2-days, remote, Apr 2021)
• “Data visualisation techniques for data scientists”
  (Internal Training for Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), 2 days, remote, Feb 2021)
• “Data visualization with {ggplot2}: data visualization principles and beautiful plotting in R”
  (Workshop for NC³ Collaborative Research Centre, 2 days, remote, Nov 2020)
• “Data visualization in R with {ggplot2}”
  (Physalia Courses Workshop, 5 days, Berlin/remote, Mar and Nov 2020)
• “Scientific data visualization: principles and good practices”
  (Workshop at Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, 1 day, Berlin, 2019)
• “Introduction to ecological modelling”
  (Department of Theoretical Ecology, 5 days, University of Potsdam, Workshop, 2016)
• “Zoology”
  (Department for Zoology, University of Potsdam, Practical Workshop, 2009–2014)
• “Research and presentation”
  (Department for Didactics of Biology, University of Potsdam, Workshop, 2013–2014)
• “Systematic zoology II”
  (Department for Evolutionary Biology and Systematic Zoology, University of Potsdam, Field Workshop, 2013–2014)

Selected Publications

• C Scherer, V Radchuk, M Franz, H.-H Thulke, M Lange, V Grimm & S Kramer-Schadt (2020) Moving infections: Individual movement decisions drive disease persistence in spatially structured landscapes. Oikos 129 (5):651–667.

• C Scherer, V Radchuk, C Staubach, S Müller, N Blaum, H-H Thulke & S Kramer-Schadt (2019) Seasonal host life-history processes fuel disease dynamics at different spatial scales. Journal of Animal Ecology 88 (11):1639–1824.

• V Radchuk, F De Laender, J Sarmento Cabral, I Boulangeat, M Crawford, F Bohn, J De Raedt, C Scherer, J-C Svenning, K Thonicke, F Schurr, V Grimm & S Kramer-Schadt (2019) The dimensionality of stability depends on disturbance type. Ecology Letters 22 (4):647–684.

• M Sciaini, M Fritsch, C Scherer & CE Simpkins (2018) NLMR and landscapetools: An integrated environment for simulating and modifying neutral landscape models in R. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 9 (11):2240–2248.

Full List of Publications

Selected Presentations

• “Beyond bar and box plots: chart alternatives and how to design them with ggplot2”
  USGS Community for Data Integration – 09|2021 – Online Meeting
  ↪ Slides   ↪ Recording   ↪ Hands-On Tutorial

• “My favorite ggplot2 extension packages.”
  R Ladies Tunis – 07|2021 – Online Meeting
  ↪ Slides   ↪ Recording

• “The first #30DayChartChallenge: A summary of inspiring contributions, our learnings, and about the value of challenges in general.”
  DataVis Lisboa – 05|2021 – Online Meeting
  ↪ Slides   ↪ Recording

• “ggplot Wizardry: My favorite tricks and secrets for beautiful plots in R.” Outlier 2021 – 02|2021 – Online Conference hosted by the Data Visualization Society (Talk + Seminar)
  ↪ Slides   ↪ Recording   ↪ Hands-On Tutorial

• “Effective Data Visualization: How to design impactful and aesthetically pleasing charts.” Heureka Labs & Duke+DataScience – 10|2020 – Duke University, Durham, USA (Webinar)
  ↪ Slides   ↪ Recording

Full List of Presentations

Awards & Honors

• Winner “Mapping Movements” Contest 2021 in the category "Pretty Map" plus Runner-Up in the category “R Maps” for the Cheetah map
• Honorable Mention RStudio Contest 2020, designing a static table
• Winner “CorrelAidX Challenge 2020”, designing an interactive Shiny app
• PostDoc Stipend, funded by the University of Potsdam (9 month full position)
• Best Poster, GRC “Movement Ecology of Animals”, Ventura, CA, USA (March 2017)

Skills

• Languages: German (native), English (fluent)
• Programming: R, CSS, html, SQL/SQLite, NetLogo, Python, C++
• Statistics: R (e.g. lm4, glmmTMB, CARBayesST, adehabitat, broom, tidytext, tidymodels), SPSS, Excel
• GIS: R (e.g. sf, stars, terra, raster, rgdal, rgeos, sp), QGIS, GRASS, ArcGIS
• Visualization: R (e.g. ggplot2, Shiny, plotly, echarts4r, leaflet, tmap, gganimate, highcharter), Figma, DataWrapper, Flourish, RAWgraphs, CartoDB
• Markup: Markdown, R (e.g. Rmarkdown, blogdown, bookdown, xaringan), LaTeX

Memberships & Services

• Peer Review: CRC Press, Journal of Animal Ecology, Oikos, BMC Ecology, Ecology and Evolution, Landscape Ecology, Ecological Modelling
• Functional Roles: Speaker of the SIG “Young Modellers in Ecology (YoMos)” (2015–2019); spokesperson in the research training group “BioMove” (2015–2018); part of the MCED award committee (2015–2019)
• Memberships: CorrelAid volunteer (since 2019); Data Visualization Society (since 2019); “R for Data Science” Online Learning Community (since 2018)
• Conference Organisation: 11th–14th Workshop of the Young Modellers in Ecology (2016–2019); 1^st International BioMove Symposium (2018); Annual Symposium of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria & Switzerland (2013)