Gabriela Woźniak is an associated professor at the University of Silesia, Faculty of Natural Science, Institute of Biology, Biotechnology, and Environmental Protection, and the Vegetation Functional Diversity Research group leader. Her scientific interest has been focused on identifying the habitat factors influencing vegetation diversity, both in inter- and intra-community patches of habitats transformed and created by human activity. This long-term study was conducted on spontaneous vegetation developing on post-coal mine sites and sites transformed by human activity in the urban-industrial landscape. In the last ten years, her research projects have focused on abiotic and biotic habitat conditions that govern the establishment, development, and diversity of species traits, composition, vegetation diversity, and the gathering of associated organisms. It has been revealed that the non-analogous species composition of spontaneous vegetation is shaping the relationships and processes of developing ecosystems and novel ecosystem functioning. The ecosystem functioning included the conducted research on soil microbial communities' characterization (symbiotic fungi; bacteria) in urban-industrial environments (soils subjected to different land-use and transformation gradients). As principal investigator and researcher, she has participated in National Projects and Bilateral International Projects with Spain, Germany, Austria, Hungary, and the UK.