Anna Székely

I am a Docent (Associate Professor) in Biology with specialization in Ecology at the Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, SLU. My work bridges environmental microbiology, microbial ecology, and molecular surveillance, with a strong focus on aquatic environments.

After completing my PhD in applied environmental microbiology, my research has primarily focused on the fundamental microbiology of inland waters, with particular emphasis on microbial community ecology.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, driven by my passion for applied science, I have expanded my activities to include the development and adaptation of molecular tools for environmental applications. This includes pathogen detection and surveillance in wastewater and natural waters, as well as eDNA-based strategies for biodiversity monitoring and water quality assessment. My goal is to be able to support evidence-based policy-making and stakeholder decisions, while contributing valuable data and tools to both the scientific community and the general public.

I lead and collaborate on a range of research and monitoring projects.

Selected ongoing projects:

• BEDDCAPD: Beyond ´Everywhere´: Disentangling Dispersal Constraints of Aquatic Planktonic Diversity, a project about microbial and planctonic diversity supported by VR Research project grant within natural and engineering sciences (2025-2028)
• ECTEMORS: Evaluation of novel Cutting-edge Technologies for efficient Environmental Molecular monitoring of Rare Species, a method development project supported by the ÅForsk Foundation (2024-2027).
• Microbial health risks in bathing water: pilot and feasibility study of recreational water sampling and analysis of alternative microbial quality indicators along Fyrisån, a project supported by SLU Future One Health seed grant (2025-2026).
• EnBiFlu: testing the efficiency of multifaceted environmental assessment of avian influenza threats and outbreaks, a project exploring the possibilities of environmental influenza detection supported by SciLifeLab capacity testing grant (2024-2025).
• Human Fecal Indicators in Aquatic systems: Pepper Mild Mottle Virus (PMMoV) an unexpected but efficient human faeces indicator in service of public health and environmental protection, a postdoctoral research project supported by the Carl Tryggers Foundation (2023-2025).
• AMR in wastewater: Evaluation of genomic analysis of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in wastewater by enrichment panels as a tool for population-level AMR surveillance and environmental risk assessment, a collaborative research project supported by SASUF mobility grant (2023-2025).

For more projects and details, see the links below.

My current positions and assignments related to environmental analysis include:

• Swedish Environmental Epidemiology Center (SEEC) – founder and lead: a holistic pandemic preparedness capability for health-related environmental research and surveillance supported by SciLifeLab's Pandemic Laboratory Preparedness programme and providing data to the Public Health Agency of Sweden (2021-)
• eDNA-based biomonitoring of Swedish freshwaters: operational manager of the corresponding development project, commissioned by the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management (2023-)
• Coordinator for the Lakes and Watercourses programme of SLU's environmental monitoring and assessment (EMA) (2025-)

Postdoctoral Fellows

• Sofia Persson – “Pepper Mild Mottle Virus (PMMoV): an unexpected but efficient human faeces indicator in service of public health and environmental protection.” (SLU, 2023–2025).
• Attila Szabó – “Inventory of global soda lake microbiome: an understudied hotspot of diversity and carbon processing.” (SLU, 2021–2024).
• John Paul Balmonte – “The consequences of the interaction between viral and bacterial communities during community coalescence in aquatic ecosystems.” (Uppsala University – UU, 2018–2020).

PhD and Licenciate Students

• Merjan Koşucu – "Dispersal Constraints and Their Role in Shaping Inland Aquatic Biodiversity." (SLU, 2025–, main-supervisor).
• Sofia Larsson – "Scaling up single molecule variant-detection for aquatic pathogen surveillance." (SLU, 2024–, co-supervisor).
• Charlotta Hagström – “Assessing the impact of declining sulfur deposition on methane emission from lake sediments.” (SLU, 2023–, co-supervisor).
• Bianka Csitári – “Nitrogen cycling of Hungarian soda lakes.” (Eötvös Loránd University – ELTE, 2017–2022, co-supervisor).
• Máté Vass – “Changes in community composition through time and space: how important is the legacy of past environmental conditions?” (UU, 2015–2020, co-supervisor).

MSc and BSc Students (only as main supervisor)

• Fanny Persson, MSc – “Tracking and profiling influenza virus in Swedish wastewaters.” (UU–SLU, 2023).
• Israa Dafalla, MSc – “Improving SARS-CoV-2 analyses from wastewater.” (Skövde University, 2021).
• Amanda Gruvnäs, BSc – “Avloppsvattenbaserad epidemiologi med fokus på SARS-CoV-2; Analys inom Västerås kommun.” (UU, 2021).
• Sofia Papadopoulou, MSc – “The influence of diel cycles on the bacterial communities of two boreal lakes.” (UU, 2020–2021).
• Andreas Östlund, MSc – “Enhance the sensitivity of Chytrid infection detection in large scale algae cultures.” (UU, 2018).
• Gorál Róbert – “Microbial community structure and dynamics of the activated sludge treating an industrial wastewater.” (ELTE, 2005–2007).
• Berta Brigitta, MSc – “Analysis of the bacterial community of mushroom compost by classical and DNA-based microbial methods.” (ELTE, 2003–2005).
• Felföldi Tamás, MSc – “Molecular microbial analysis of the nitrifying basins of a sewage treatment plant.” (ELTE, 2001–2003).