Dr. Kaïna Privet PhD

Dr. Kaïna Privet is a distinguished arachnologist currently serving as an Assistant Professor and Curator of the spider collection at the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (MNHN) in Paris. Affiliated with the MECADEV laboratory, her work bridges the gap between historical specimen curation and cutting-edge ecological research. She earned her PhD through a prestigious collaboration between the University of Rennes and UC Berkeley, studying tropical spider diversity under the guidance of Julien Pétillon and Rosemary Gillespie. Her research is deeply interdisciplinary, utilizing community ecology, taxonomic analysis, trait diversity, and phylogenies to decode the complex biogeography of arachnids. Dr. Privet is particularly driven by understanding the fundamental assembly processes that dictate biodiversity patterns across different landscapes. Beyond her theoretical inquiries, she is a vocal advocate for the standardization of ecological methodologies, ensuring that the global study of biodiversity is both rigorous and comparable. Her dual role as a researcher and curator allows her to leverage one of the world's most significant natural history collections to answer global ecological questions.