The International External Advisory Board

Juanjo Dañobeitia

Professor in Marine Geophysics of the National Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), former director at CSIC-UTM of Large-Scale Infrastructures (Research fleet and Antarctic Stations), and over 35 years of experience in management of national (ANEP, Prestige AC, Chair on the construction of the RV Sarmiento de Gamboa) and international research boards (ESF-Marine Board, CONMAP, ERVO). Leading significant National & EU research projects (H2020) on Marine science and technology. Author of numerous SCI-publication, and He is currently the Director General of European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and water column Observatory (EMSO ERIC) in Rome, Italy, with the goal of establishing a competitive seafloor research infrastructure across European Seas.

Luísa M. P. Valente

Dr. Luísa M.P. Valente is a biologist with more than 25 years of research experience in fish nutrition and sustainable aquaculture. Associate professor with Aggregation in ICBAS – University of Porto (UP). Member of the Directive Board of CIIMAR where she coordinates the Biology, Aquaculture and Seafood Quality thematic line. Member of the board of the European Aquaculture Society (EAS).

Vera Pospelova

Vera Pospelova is a professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Minnesota (USA) and a Senior HWK Fellow in Marine and Climate Research. She is the former president of the Canadian Association of Palynologists. Doctor Pospelova’s research focus is on the taxonomy and calibration of marine palynomorphs as biological indicators of environmental conditions and high-resolution late Quaternary paleoceanographic and paleoclimatic reconstructions using sedimentary archives.

Luis Valdés

Dr. Luis Valdes is Research Professor, Director of the Centro Oceanográfico de Santander and Coordinator of International Affairs at the Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO). He was the Head of Ocean Sciences at the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO from 2009 to 2015, and formerly (2000–2008) he served as Director of the Centro Oceanográfico de Gijón-IEO. In the period 2002-2008 he served as Spanish Delegate for both, the IOC-UNESCO (2002-2008) and the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). With more than 35 years of experience in marine research and field studies related to marine ecology and climate change, he established in 1990 the time series programme, based on ocean sampling sites and marine observatories, which is maintained by Spain in the North Atlantic. He has a long experience in science management and has advised governmental, intergovernmental and international organizations as well as research funding agencies and chaired several Working Groups and Committees, including the ICES Oceanographic Committee.

Gray Williams

Dr. Gray Williams is the Director of the Swire Institute of Marine Science and Professor in the School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong and a Guest Professor at Xiamen University, China.  His primary research interests focus on the ecophysiology and behaviour of intertidal species; especially those inhabiting the extreme high shore area in the tropical SE Asia region.

Maria Luiza Pedrotti

María Luiza Pedrotti is a researcher at the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) of the Sorbonne University. She is a specialist in oceanography with more than 25 years’ experience in marine plankton ecology. She is currently working on the impact of plastic pollution on the marine food web and the plastisphere associated with microplastics to better understand how it affects ecosystem health. She was the scientific coordinator of TARA Mediterranean Expedition and leads the IMME group (Impact of Microplastics in the Mediterranean Ecosystem). She is member of scientific and administrative committees, including IUCN SSC Marine Star Specialist Group and the Monaco Commission on Human Health and Ocean Pollution, and roles as an expert for the High Council for the Evaluation of Research and Higher Education (Hcéres).

Jaume Piera

Dr. Jaume Piera has more than 25 years of experience in ocean observing systems. He currently coordinates 3 EU projects (ANERIS, ProBleu and MINKE) and participates as IP in 5 other international projects. Graduated in Telecommunications Engineering from the Technical University of Catalonia (1991); Master’s degree in Biology from the University of Barcelona (1998) and PHD in Environmental Sciences from the University of Girona (2002). From 2001 to 2004 he was a Lecturer at the Department of Signal Theory and Communications (Technical University of Catalonia, UPC). From 2005 to 2012 he was a Scientist of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) working at the Marine Technology Unit in Barcelona (Spain). Since 2012, he is working at the Marine Science Institute at the deparment of Physical and Technological Oceanography, leading the research group EMBIMOS (EnvironMental and sustainaBility particIpatory information systemsS).

Sofía Consuegra

Professor Sofía Consuegra is an evolutionary ecologist with more than 20 years of experience in population and conservation (epi)genetics and genomics aquatic speciese (farmed and wild). She is currently a Full professor at Swansea University and a Royal Society Industry Fellow. He has broad international professional experience, having worked boh in Government and in Academia. She sits in national and international scientific panels, she has published over 120 peer-reviewed papers and raised over £10M in research projects since 2014. She has experience in coordinating major interdisciplinary and international projects.

Gregorio Iglesias

Professor of Marine Renewable Energy at University College Cork and Honorary Professor of Coastal Engineering at University of Plymouth, with over 25 years of experience in ocean energy, offshore wind energy and coastal engineering. He obtained a Marie Curie grant focused on the effects of wave farms on coastal processes (WaveImpact) and recently acted as an expert withness on behalf of Spain’s State Ports. He coordinated numerous laboratory tests of breakwaters and wave energy converters. He also pioneered the application of AI to coastal engineering. He patented a wave energy converter (WaveCat), a hybrid wave-wind wind system, and an Artificial Vision system for laboratory use. He contributed to the IEC standards for wave energy device development and the Spanish Standards for Maritime Works (ROM). He is a member of various Editorial Boards and the Subject Editor of Energy (Elsevier) for wave, tidal and hydropower.