My name is Tommaso Leonardi. I am a PhD student at the University of Padova, under the supervision of Amos Maritan, Sandro Azaele, and Samir Suweis. I graduated from my Master’s and Bachelor’s in Physics at the University of Cambridge. I focussed on statistical physics and field theory during my Master’s, and did my thesis with Ben Simons and Yuting Li on oscillator system dynamics in biological contexts. I am working on projects in the application in ecology of statistical mechanics, particularly the areas of dynamical mean field theory and pattern formation, as part of a holistic and interdisciplinary attempt to understand the relationship between the whole and the parts. Ecological applications particularly interest me for the potential to assess human and other influences in the wider environment.