Sunny Tseng, PhD

Sunny Tseng, PhD

Hello! I am Sunny, an independent ecological consultant, R programmer, and scientific infographic artist based in Vancouver, Canada.

I earned my PhD in the spring of 2026 and am currently leading international projects supported by Wildlife Acoustics (an ARU monitoring project in Lithuania) and the R Consortium (a package development initiative teaming up with the core BirdNET team from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology), all while launching my business as an independent consultant and designer!

I provide services in R Workflows (Data Management & Analysis), R Package Development, and Scientific Graphic Design. If you are interested in any of these services, please feel free to contact me.

🖥️ R Workflow

I specialize in preparing and streamlining data pipelines for complex, large-scale datasets. My services include data cleaning, wrangling, automated analysis, and advanced ecological modeling. I also build automated reproducible summaries using R Markdown and Quarto, as well as interactive R Shiny tools (e.g., BirdNET validation tool) that translate complex data into accessible information.

As a bioacoustician by training, I am particularly fluent at tackling acoustic datasets, especially those collected via Autonomous Recording Units. I specialize in integrating machine learning pipelines to process audio data and extract meaningful ecological insights (e.g., Birds Canada ARU analysis project).

📦 R Package Development

Building R packages is one of the best ways to make code easily accessible, as internal workflows for a team or broad open-source across a research field. As a developer, my experience includes creating bbsTaiwan under the rOpenSci Championship program to streamline access to and wrangling of long-term citizen science data, as well as birdnetTools, a specialized package designed to process automated wildlife detection data by seamlessly linking acoustic datasets with the machine learning algorithm BirdNET.

🎨 Scientific Graphic Design

Beyond data and programming, I specialize in visual communication for science. My design services range from custom visual assets like icons and logos to complex, high-impact products like research infographics, data visualizations, and graphical abstracts for journal publications. Check out my design portfolio to see how we can bring scientific stories to life!

More about me

I was born and raised in a beautiful country called Taiwan, and now call Vancouver, Canada, my second home. I’ve spent much of my career conducting bird-related scientific research in Siberia, Taiwan, Canada, and Lithuania, collecting bird sounds from more than 300 species - check them out on my Xeno-Canto! I also enjoy writing popular science articles in both Traditional Chinese and English. Exploring this world with great enthusiasm and self-reflection is how I guide my life.

哈囉,我是奕晴,來自於一個美麗的熱帶小島 - 臺灣。台大物理系、森林系雙主修畢業後,到加拿大溫哥華就讀碩士班、博士,主要從事鳥類聲學研究,在這些年歲中,於臺灣、加拿大、俄羅斯、立陶宛等世界各地進行研究,收集了三百多種鳥類的鳴唱聲音。曾獲得國家地理頻道 Early Career Grant、加拿大鳥類學會 Taverner Award、加拿大自然科學與工程研究委員會全額研究獎學金。並已在國際期刊發表數篇研究成果。

平時以科學研究為正職,遊走於生態資料科學家、藝術繪圖者、自然書寫者等專業間。同時享受藝術創作、寫作、及野外錄音帶來的生活反思,某種程度上,我認為那更能反映出我所認識的世界。看到水會想跳、看到山會想爬、喜歡抱樹、喜歡一個人靜靜地走路、每天要花一個小時吃早餐。目前定居於加拿大溫哥華,另一個靠海的美麗地方,家門口望向海的方向,就是臺灣。