PhD researcher Mattia Menchetti received the Extraordinary Doctoral Award by the University of Pompeu Fabra in June 2025 for his thesis “Exploring the genetic diversity of European ants and butterflies” at the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE), a joint research centre of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the University of Pompeu Fabra (UPF). The thesis was defended within the PhD Programme in Biomedicine at UPF, where a total of 78 doctoral theses were read during the 2023–2024 academic year, eight of which received this distinction.

This October, the thesis has also been distinguished with the III Premio Tesis Doctoral Relevante del CSIC, which recognizes 20 outstanding PhD theses defended in 2023 and 2024 for their quality, impact, and scientific relevance. Each awardee receives €1,000. These awards acknowledge the work of early-career researchers, the true driving force behind scientific progress.

“Winning this award is a great honour and a motivation to continue exploring insect diversity. It also recognises the collective effort of mentors and colleagues who supported and contributed to my work during the thesis.” Explains Mattia Menchettii, former PhD Student at the Butterfly Diversity and Evolution Lab led by Roger Vila. “My PhD thesis focused on understanding the species diversity of European ants and butterflies, how this species diversity is distributed, and how it was generated. I discovered new native and invasive ant species, and I used genetic and climatic data to understand how past climate changes shaped butterfly diversity”.

“Mattia’s thesis represented a massive push in the knowledge of European butterflies and ants. For ants, he generated a mitochondrial genetic database for nearly all species and, for butterflies, he showed the type of novel research that can be done with such a genetic database”, says Roger Vila, principal investigator at the IBE and director of the awardee’s thesis.

Mattia Menchetti in Papua New Guinea during his PhD at the IBE. Credit to Mattia Menchetti.

Mattia Menchetti talks about the motivation behind his thesis

Edward O. Wilson referred to invertebrates as “the little things that run the world”, highlighting their crucial role in sustaining ecosystems, as well as the importance of knowing and preserving their diversity. Ants and butterflies are two emblematic groups of insects that have long captured the scientists' curiosity and the public's fascination.

I have always been interested in small critters. Starting a PhD at IBE allowed me to study the insect groups I love, from observing and sampling them in the field, to studying their DNA in the lab. The objective of my thesis was to describe this incredible diversity and to disentangle the processes that generated it.

IBE offered an international research environment devoted to understanding biodiversity and, in Roger Vila’s group, exploring the most fascinating insect species and curiosities is both encouraged and celebrated.

I now continue exploring the historical and present-day processes that determine how ant species are distributed and how humans have affected them. Supported by a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action fellowship at the Berlin Natural History Museum I now investigate the genomic legacy of major human events throughout history in Mediterranean ants.

Read the full PhD thesis on TDX: https://www.tdx.cat/handle/10803/691459#page=1

Read more about his research at the IBE here:

The red fire ant is now established in Europe and could reach the UK

The worrying arrival of the invasive Asian needle ant (Brachyponera chinensis) in Europe