List of Speakers and Biographies

29 June 2022, Cascais, Portugal

Click on each session title to see list of speakers, panellists and moderators. 

Official side event (ID OBZA5)

Dr. Delphine Lobelle (ECOP)

Delphine Lobelle is a physical oceanographer and post-doctoral researcher at Utrecht University in The Netherlands in a team called Tracking of Plastic In Our Seas (funded by the ERC), to explore where plastic ends up in the ocean. Delphine also coordinates knowledge-sharing and stakeholder engagement events: Ocean Plastic Webinars, Ocean Visions 2021 summit, and the Ocean Plastic Workshop 2022. She is co-founder of the OceanBRIDGES network (Bridging (Ocean) Research, Innovation and Diversity among Generations of Experts and Stakeholders).

Prof. Dr. Richard Thomson

Richard Thompson OBE FRS is a Professor of Marine Biology and Director of the Marine Institute at the University of Plymouth. He is one of the world’s foremost experts on plastic pollution and has published over 200 scientific papers covering global distribution of plastics, potential transfer from the gut to the circulatory system, and their role in the transport of chemical contaminants. His work has guided policy on the release of microplastics from cosmetic products and textiles.

Prof. Alexander Turra

Professor at the Oceanographic Institute of the University of São Paulo and coordinator of the UNESCO Chair on Ocean Sustainability

Heidi Savelli-Soderberg

Heidi Savelli-Soderberg coordinates UNEPs marine litter activities within the framework of the Global Partnership on Marine Litter which is hosted by the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (GPA) since 2009. She has worked with coastal and marine management for 20 years particularly land-based sources of pollution; communication, education, and awareness; and implementation of training programmes in marine protected area management, wastewater management and monitoring of marine litter. She is an ecotoxicologist by training.

Dr. Toste Tanhua

Toste is a chemical oceanographer at GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, in Germany focusing on ocean ventilation by observing transient tracers and conducting deliberate tracer release experiments to understand ventilation and mixing in the ocean. He also works on understanding the dynamics of ocean carbon, nutrients and oxygen. He also co-chairs the steering committee of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and coordinates the EU funded project EuroSea, that aims at improving the ocean observing and forecasting system.

Mr. Keiji NAKASHIMA

Mr. Nakashima has worked for management of world natural heritage sites and national parks, environmental impact assessment, marine conservation, and official development assistant of Asia-Pacific region. Since April 2020, he has been working on marine plastic litter as the director. He joined the Ministry of the Environment Japan in 1996.

Marc Metian

Marc Metian is researcher scientist at the Marine Environment Laboratories of the International Atomic Energy Agency. He is involved since 2014 in the IAEA technical cooperation activities on topics related to Ocean such as plastic pollution, ocean acidification, and seafood safety, providing technical support to IAEA Member States to build capacity on these topics. He oversees research assessing the impact of microplastics on marine organisms.

Dr. Amy Lusher

Dr. Amy Lusher is a Key Researcher in the section for environmental contaminants at the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) and an Associate Professor at the University of Bergen. She is currently the Scientific Project Manager of EUROqCHARM, a Horizon 2020 Coordination and Support Action which is focused on the analysis and evaluation of existing methodologies used for plastic pollution assessment, with an aim to harmonize them on a European level.

Dr. Audrey Hasson

Audrey Hasson heads the GEO Blue Planet European Office, hosted by Mercator Ocean International and funded by the European Union through the EU4OceanObs project. Audrey is a physical oceanographer, specialising in the study of water masses using satellite-borne, situ observations and numerical simulations. She has worked for the US, French and European space agencies, co-founded the Ocean Plastic Webinars and led several science outreach projects.

Marta Ottogalli

Marta Ottogalli coordinates concept-to-launch of the UNEP Global Partnership on Marine Litter (GPML) Digital Platform, a partly open-source, multi-stakeholder platform that compiles different resources, connects stakeholders, and integrates data to guide action towards the long term elimination of marine litter pollution. She is specialized in open-source AI digital platforms supporting evidence-based decision-making, enabling forecasting, personalisation and match-making functionalities.

Mr. Saiful Ridwan

Saiful Ridwan is the Chief Enterprise Solutions Officer at the UNEP, where he is responsible for the identification, creation, development and delivery of business and information technology solutions to support the goals and mandate of UNEP. He has over 30 years of international experience in various fields of information technology within diverse sectors, private sector and academia. He currently focuses on the implementation of machine learning technologies for environmental protection.

Dr. Nicola Balbarini

Nicola Balbarini is a water resources engineer with global experience in supporting institutions addressing environmental resources and sustainable development challenges. He is leading the team at the UNEP-DHI Centre which has developed the global risk and warning system for macro plastic litter in freshwater ecosystems. The team is currently supporting UNEP with data harmonization for the Global Partnership on Marine Litter digital platform.

Dr. Stefano Aliani

Stefano Aliani is a marine scientist who has been working on marine debris since the 90ties. He wrote the first paper ever on marine debris and ocean modelling. He has participated and lead many projects all over the world, including polar areas. He is currently Vice President of the Scientific Committee of Oceanic Research. Participated as member or expert to working groups of IASC, PAME and AMAP on marine science and marine litter.

Dr. Artur Palacz

Artur holds a PhD in Oceanography from the University of Maine, USA. He has worked as a researcher for several years, specialising in marine ecosystem modelling. Since 2016 Artur has been working as a project officer for the International Ocean Carbon Coordination Project (IOCCP) which acts as the Biogeochemistry Panel of Experts of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), based at the Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Sciences (IO PAN) in Sopot, Poland. As part of the EU H2020 EuroSea project, he is supporting the development of the Integrated Marine Debris Observing System (IMDOS).

Mr. NAKASHIMA Keiji

He has worked for management of world natural heritage sites and national parks, environmental impact assessment, marine conservation, and official development assistant of Asia-Pacific region.
Since April 2020, he has been working on marine plastic litter as the director. He joined the Ministry of the Environment Japan in 1996.

Dr. Tomoko Takahashi (ECOP)

Tomoko Takahashi specialises in the use of laser spectroscopy and machine learning in ocean monitoring. She received the Ph.D. degree in environmental studies from the University of Tokyo, Japan, in 2017. She is currently a Researcher with the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology and works on development of novel techniques for autonomous and continuous monitoring of marine particles, particularly microplastics.

Dr. Audrey Hasson

Audrey Hasson heads the GEO Blue Planet European Office, hosted by Mercator Ocean International and funded by the European Union through the EU4OceanObs project. Audrey is a physical oceanographer, specialising in the study of water masses using satellite-borne, situ observations and numerical simulations. She has worked for the US, French and European space agencies, co-founded the Ocean Plastic Webinars and led several science outreach projects.

Dr. Victor Martinez Vicente

Victor Martinez Vicente is a bio-optical oceanographer at PML. His research interest is to understand the interaction of light with particles in the aquatic environment to develop new satellite products, such as phytoplankton carbon, marine plastic debris, harmful algal bloom detection and, most recently, biodiversity indicators. He leads the Technologies and Platforms core topic of the IOCCG Task force in marine litter and debris.

Prof. Atsuhiko Isobe

A professor of the Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University. He is now the principal investigator of multiple marine plastic research projects sponsored by the Japanese government. He was awarded the Environment Minister’s prize, the Prime Minister’s prize, and the Prize for Science and Technology from the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, for his marine plastic pollution research.

Dr. Amy Lusher

Dr. Amy Lusher is a Key Researcher in the section for environmental contaminants at the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) and an Associate Professor at the University of Bergen. She is currently the Scientific Project Manager of EUROqCHARM, a Horizon 2020 Coordination and Support Action which is focused on the analysis and evaluation of existing methodologies used for plastic pollution assessment, with an aim to harmonize them on a European level.

Dr. Carolina Sá

Carolina Sá is the Earth Observation Officer of the Portuguese Space Agency – Portugal Space since December 2019. She holds a PhD in Marine Sciences from the University of Lisbon with focus on ocean-colour satellite products validation and algorithm development for monitoring the Portuguese coastal waters. She currently integrates the Portuguese national delegation at the European Commission Copernicus User Forum and Copernicus Committee.

Dr. Leonardo Azevedo

Leonardo Azevedo is an Assistant Professor at Instituto Superior Técnico and a researcher at CERENA. He holds a PhD in Earth Resources (IST) and his research work focuses on the development of earth modelling techniques coupling spatial data science and geophysics.

Dr. Marc Lucas

Dr. Marc Lucas is a senior oceanographer at CLS. He holds a BSc in ocean Science from the University of Plymouth UK, an MSc in Oceanography, and a PhD in Physical Oceanography both from the University of Southampton, UK. After 3 post Docs in France and Germany mostly focused on numerical modelling, he joined the CLS team dedicated to providing metocean services for Offshore Energy. This involved working on the use and interpretation of combined Satellite In Situ and numerical model data. He then joined the environmental downstream application unit focusing on issues such as sargassum invasion and marine plastic. In his current position, he also supervises innovative project focusing on Earth Observation data and the acquisition of high quality in situ data for satellite applications.

Dr. Kostantinos Topouzelis 

Dr. Konstantinos Topouzelis is an Associate Professor in the Department of Marine Sciences, University of the Aegean and he heads the Marine Remote Sensing Group. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies (University of the Aegean, Department of Environment), a Master’s degree in Remote Sensing (University of Dundee, Department of Applied Physics & Mechanical Engineering) and a Ph.D. in pollution monitoring from space (National Technical University of Athens, School of Rural and Surveying Engineering). His main research interest is on the analysis of remote sensing datasets, including satellite and aerial images, for marine and coastal applications. His expertise includes automatic detection of oceanographic phenomena, Object Based Image Analysis, image processing algorithms and coastal mapping.

Mafalda de Freitas

Jesús Peña-Izquierdo is a Climate Data Scientist, graduated in Physics, MSc and PhD in Physical Oceanography, he has more than 10 years of experience in climate research having worked in different international institutions (ICM / Barcelona, SCRIPPS-SIO / San Diego, UNSW-CCRC / Sydney, UCM / Madrid, BSC / Barcelona). He is currently Lobelia’s scientific lead with the clear goal of providing state of the art climate science to solve real-world problems. He has been already working for diverse institutions such as the Catalan Government, the Climate Change Resilience Investment or the Global Center on Adaptation providing future projections of climate hazards. At the same time, he actively participates in diverse international research projects aiming to better understand the climate system such as the occurrence of droughts, heat waves and fires.

Mafalda de Freitas

Mafalda is Director of the Peniche Ocean Watch, an initiative that seeks to build a pilot Blue Circular Economy model that can be shared globally to empower coastal communities through a digital entrepreneurial mindset. As a first step in the creation of this economic model, Mafalda is managing an 18 month, digital innovation project — co-funded by EEA Grants — to deliver sensor equipped aerial drones which will map biodiversity and ocean litter in coastal waters, with the goal of implementing more sustainable and selective fishing practices, and establishing ocean litter collection protocols. The initiative is currently collaborating with local fishermen in the collection of fishing nets, to be recycled and turned into pellets for Large-Scale Additive Manufacturing of products for the local communities.
Mafalda’s background is in marine biology with over 10 years of experience in marine conservation research of at-risk habitats and species, continuously working with local stakeholders for a healthier global ocean.

Davide Poletto

Davide Poletto holds a European doctorate in Sustainable Development Governance Affairs from the University Ca’ Foscari of Venice (Italy). He has collaborated with various national and international institutions, organisations, and scientific networks. He served UNESCO for 12 years as consultant/programme/project Officer in Science, focusing on scientific cooperation in Europe and South-East Europe on sustainable development projects raging from DRM to sustainable energy. He currently serves as co-founder and Executive Director of Venice Lagoon Plastic Free, a young Italian NGO based in Venice (Italy) awarded by two running H2020 projects, namely MAELSTROM and INNOPLASTIC, on marine litter removal and circular economy. He is also an international consultant and an active environmental campaigner. Finally, he is also involved in EOSC (European Open Science Cloud) related activities, being part of the team of the H2020 project RELIANCE. In particular, he leads the task “Epistemic community networking and capacity building”, where he develops a first line of researchers, practitioners and scientists focusing on marine litter within the EOSC ecosystem.

Carlos Borges

Carlos Borges is a marine chemist specialised in field of nutrients and chemometrics. His current research interests focus on the areas of chemometrics and metrology associated with marine geochemistry, with the development of methodologies to assess sampling uncertainty in the marine environment and its influence on analytical results. Since 1999, when he started working at the Portuguese Hydrographic Institute, he has been involved in several projects dedicated to the environmental characterization of coastal and oceanic areas under Portuguese jurisdiction as well as on the fate and effects of microplastics in the marine environment (e.g. the international projects i-plastic and EEAGrants-NRP Sagres 2020 and the national projects AQUASADO and AQUIMAR, as leader of some of work packages in these last two projects).

Dr. Christine Knauss (ECOP)

Dr. Christine Knauss is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. Her work focuses on developing an efficient method for identifying microplastics using polarized light, fluorescent light, and machine learning. She is also co-leading an effort in the US to create a national network of plastic pollution researchers, that aims to harmonize methods, support databases, and increase diversity in the field.

Simon Bernard

Simon is graduated from the French merchant navy academy (ENSM). He has sailed on several merchant vessels as deck officer and engine officer. Passionate about finding solutions to environmental issues he carried out several studies and projects on eco-friendly ships, CO2 emission reduction, circular economy and low technologies for developing countries. In 2016, he won the Green Tech Award initiated by the French Ministry of the environment before founding Plastic Odyssey that aims at reducing ocean’s pollution by promoting plastic recycling solutions adapted to developing countries. Simon was selected as part of the Forbe’s 30 under 30 in 2021.

Mafalda de Freitas (ECOP)

Mafalda is Director of the Peniche Ocean Watch, an initiative that seeks to build a pilot Blue Circular Economy model that can be shared globally to empower coastal communities through a digital entrepreneurial mindset. As a first step in the creation of this economic model, Mafalda is managing an 18 month, digital innovation project — co-funded by EEA Grants — to deliver sensor equipped aerial drones which will map biodiversity and ocean litter in coastal waters, with the goal of implementing more sustainable and selective fishing practices, and establishing ocean litter collection protocols. The initiative is currently collaborating with local fishermen in the collection of fishing nets, to be recycled and turned into pellets for Large-Scale Additive Manufacturing of products for the local communities.
Mafalda’s background is in marine biology with over 10 years of experience in marine conservation research of at-risk habitats and species, continuously working with local stakeholders for a healthier global ocean.

Dr. Refilwe Mofokeng (ECOP)

Dr. Refilwe Mofokeng obtained her PhD in marine ecotoxicology in 2020 at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) South Africa. Her background is in metal and microplastics distribution in estuarine and marine ecosystems. During her PhD, she was able to obtain a few accolades including Wonder Woman in Science 2017 (UKZN), Top 40 inspirational student for the year 2017 and the city of eThekwini green award in 2017. Refilwe is currently a postdoctoral candidate at the University of KwaZulu-Natal working on Ridge to Reef transportation of plastics in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Outside academia, she is co-founder of Refilwe Matlotlo non-profit organisation, which aims to improve marine pollution awareness and education in South Africa.