Speakers

Dr. Eleni Hatziyanni

Policy Officer, European Commission - DG Maritime Affairs and Fisheries
European Commission, DG Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Brussels, Belgium

Development of Maritime Policy and Blue Economy in the context of sea-basin Strategies. Former Director of Environment and Spatial Planning at the Region of Crete and coordinator of European Projects on the Sustainable Development, Circular Economy, Environmental Protection, Blue Growth and Blue Economy sectors, for the implementation of regional Smart Specialization Strategy.

Prof. Gudmundur Hreggvidsson

Professor in Biotechnology and Microbiology at University of Iceland
Strategic leader in biotech at Matis ohf

Microbiology & bioprospecting of thermophilic and marine biotopes. Enzyme bioprospecting and development: Current focus on carbohydrate active biorefinery enzymes and molecular enzymes from thermophilic bacteriophages; Molecular microbial ecology: physiological, genomic, metagenomic and pangenomic approaches; Metabolic engineering of extreme organisms for production of chemicals, and energy carriers; Molecular tools: application to diversity analyses.

Prof. Nicolas Kalogerakis

School of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Crete, Greece

Professor of Biochemical Engineering at the TUCrete and former Professor at SUNY-Buffalo (USA) and the University of Calgary (Canada). His expertise includes environmental biotechnology focusing on bioremediation and phytoremediation technologies for the restoration of contaminated sites. Currently, his group participates in two H2020 research projects and coordinates the ERA-MIN2 project (nanoBT).

Prof. Ioannis Karakassis

Professor, Director of Marine Ecology Lab
Department of Biology, University of Crete, Greece

Interested in structure and processes of, and human impacts on coastal marine ecosystems and biodiversity. Working on environmental impacts of aquaculture as a model of multiple interactions between ecosystem components and anthropogenic activities. Research methodologies comprise field sampling, experiments, laboratory analyses and mathematical modeling to reveal patterns over spatial and temporal scales.

Prof. Bernard Kloareg

Science Coordinator of EMBRC-France
Station Biologique de Roscoff, France

Bernard Kloareg was trained as an engineer in agronomy. His research interests are the biochemistry, genomics and biotechnology of marine macro-algae. He coordinated the European Marine Biological Resource Infrastructure Cluster (EMBRIC, H2020, InfraDev4, 2014-2019).

Prof. Phoebe Koundouri

Athens University of Economics and Business; President Elect European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists; Fellow WAAS, co-Chair UN SDSN Europe; Director EIT Climate KIC HUB, Greece

A world-renowned environmental economics professor and global leader in sustainable development. She is widely recognized as a pioneer in innovative, human-centric, interdisciplinary systems for the sustainable interaction between nature, society, and the economy. Listed in the most-cited women economists in the world, with 15 published books and over 300 published peer-reviewed scientific papers.

Dr. Antonios Magoulas

CMBR Scientific Responsible
Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research – GREECE

Dr. A. Magoulas is currently the Director of the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR). Former Director of Research at the Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture (IMBBC) of HCMR. Former Director of IMBBC (2013 - 2018) and vice president of the Board of Directors of HCMR (2015-2018), former Director of the Institute of Marine Biology and Genetics

Dr. Alexia Massa-Gallucci

Senior Scientific Consultant
AquaBioTech Group, Malta

A fisheries biologist with extensive experience in applied research, fieldwork, data analysis and writing in marine biology and fisheries science. Currently a Senior Scientific Consultant at AquaBioTech Group, where she leads the Fisheries Research and Development department. She carries out R&I&D activities in commercial and research projects with national, European and international organisations.

Dr. Katerina Kousoulaki

Senior Researcher
Nofima, Norway

Katerina Kousoulaki has been working during the past 14 years in Nofima, developing and documenting new raw materials (e.g., microalgae, krill stickwater and fisheries side stream soluble enriched fish meals) in low FIFO diets for salmon, as well as sea bass and sea bream through European collaborative projects.

Eng. Pedro Mayorga

President and CTO of EnerOcean S.L.
Spain

Founder, president and CTO of EnerOcean S.L., Assistant professor of University of Malaga on Marine Energies. Engineer with more than 25 years of experience, leader of the development of W2Power, first twin turbine floating wind platform successfully tested at open sea. Member of multiple National and regional Clusters and Associations.

Dr Constantinos (Dinos) C Mylonas

Director
Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology & Aquaculture, HCMR, Crete, Greece

Dr CC Mylonas studies fish reproductive endocrinology and the development of methods for the control of reproduction in aquaculture fish. He has published 136 scientific articles with an ISI-Index (H-index 40), has co-authored six books and edited one book on the reproduction of fish.

Dr. Nicolas Pade

Executive Director
EMBRC-ERIC

Dr Nicolas Pade is the current Executive Director of the European Research Infrastructure EMBRC-ERIC. He has been working in the field of research infrastructures for 10 years and built several projects supporting marine research and innovation. Nicolas holds a PhD from the University of Aberdeen in molecular and spatial ecology.

Dr Evangelos Pafilis

Associate Researcher
Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology & Aquaculture, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), Greece

Evangelos's research focuses on text mining of large corpora, for organism, process, environment and other biological entity mentions. The aim is to extract knowledge and propose innovative hypotheses relevant to a broad spectrum of biological applications. At the mean time Evangelos enjoy co-coordinating IMBBC High Performance Computing facility, organizing citizen-science sampling and taking pictures.

Dr. Nikos Papandroulakis

Research Director
Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology & Aquaculture, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), Greece

His research focuses on improving rearing methodologies, applying precision farming ideas, development of offshore aquaculture concepts for multipurpose platforms. Involved in 40 National and EU projects. Member of the Sectorial Scientific Council of the GSRI for Agro-technology and Nutrition and Vice President of the Hellenic Aquaculture Technology and Innovation Platform.

Dr. Paraskevi Pitta

Research Director
Institute of Oceanography, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), Greece

Interested in the marine microbial food web: phytoplankton, protozoa, bacteria, archaea, and their viruses. Has worked in the oligotrophic Eastern Mediterranean with field/cruise observations and mesocosm experiments understanding ecosystem functioning and testing climate change/hazards’ impacts on the food web. Other interests: Mixotrophy of planktonic ciliates and Interactions of aquaculture and the marine environment.

Dr. Fernando Reyes

Head of Chemistry
Fundación MEDINA, Granada, Spain

Fernando Reyes received a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Granada in 1995. Over the last 25 years, he has worked on the isolation and structural elucidation of bioactive natural products from several sources and for different companies and institutions, including Smithkline Beecham, PharmaMar and Fundación MEDINA.

Dr. Giovanna Romano

Senior scientist
Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Italy

Giovanna Romano is senior researcher at the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn (SZN), Naples. She graduated in Biological Sciences at the University of Naples Federico II. Scholarship holder in Biochemistry for six years and subsequently permanent researcher at the SZN. She studies secondary metabolites from marine organisms, focusing mainly on diatoms.

Prof. Vassilios Roussis

Professor
Department of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece

Specializing in Marine Pharmacognosy and marine natural products chemistry. Author of 200+ publications and 5 patents. Actively involved in the chemical investigation of marine organisms, has isolated more than 350 new marine natural products. Received the PSE – Bruker Award (2015) “in recognition of his outstanding contributions to chemistry, structure and function of marine natural products”.

Dr. Loredana Stabili

Senior Researcher
Water Research Institute (IRSA), Taranto, Italy; Department of Science and Biological and Environmental Technologies, University of Salento, Lecce, Italy

An expert on bioremediation studies for the abatement of microbial contaminants in the marine environment through the use of filtering marine organisms (polychaetes, porifera, molluscs). Isolation of aerobic bacteria from polluted substrates and evaluation of their use for biotechnological purposes and the development of bioremediation methodologies. Study of chemical defense in invertebrates and macroalgae.

Prof. Olivier Thomas

Professor in Marine Biodiscovery, School of Chemistry and Ryan Institute, National University of Ireland Galway, Ireland.


Following his passion for the oceans and its hidden treasures, he moved from France to the island of Ireland where he is leading the marine biodiscovery group at NUIG. The research focus of the laboratory is the chemistry of marine metabolites with an emphasis on drug discovery but also biotoxins and chemical ecology using environmental metabolomics.

Prof. Joaquín Tintoré

Professor of Physical Oceanography, Spanish National Research Council at IMEDEAr
Director of the Spanish Large-Scale Marine Infrastructure SOCIB

His present scientific interest is to understand the ocean state and variability, from events to climate and from the coast to the open ocean, implementing new multi-platform and integrated ocean observing and forecasting systems. Proposed and designed the Spanish Large-Scale Marine Infrastructure SOCIB. Since 2014, SOCIB provides streams of data, tools, products and modelling services for science and society.

Prof. Evangelos Topakas

Associate Professor
School of Chemical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Greece

Evangelos Topakas is an Associate Professor in the School of Chemical Engineering of NTUA, leading the Industrial Biotechnology and Biocatalysis group (InduBioCat). His research experience includes the discovery of novel enzymes with industrial potential for the utilization of waste biomass towards high-added value compounds in the field of Biorefineries.

Dr. Ioannis Tzovenis

Algae biotechnology and aquaculture, MicroPhykos, Greece

Over 30 years of professional experience in the field of algae biotechnology & aquaculture. Former academic, serves as technical and scientific advisor for several companies producing Spirulina microalgae in Greece, being active in developing systems for phytoplankton production in marine hatcheries and projects for natural products from algae.

Dr Marc Vandeputte

Aquaculture Research Coordinator
French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (INRAE), France

Dr. Marc Vandeputte is the coordinator of aquaculture research in INRAE, and the coordinator of the AQUAEXCEL network of aquaculture research infrastructures. Marc works on fish genetics and genomics at INRAE for more than 25 years. He authored more than 110 peer-reviewed articles in fish genetics.

Prof. Giovanna Cristina Varese

Professor, University of Torino, Italy
Scientific Head of Mycotheca Universitatis Taurinensis

Full Professor at the University of Torino and Scientific Head of the Mycotheca Universitatis Taurinensis (MUT- www.mut.unito.it). MUT currently preserves about 7000 fungal strains, 1/3 of which isolated from marine environments. MUT aims to optimize the management and ensure accessibility to resources, services and consultancies for both Academia and Bioindustry.

Dr. Joana R. Xavier

Researcher and team leader, CIIMAR
Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, University of Porto, Portugal

My research focuses on the understanding of diversity, biogeographic, and connectivity patterns of deep-sea sponges and sponge habitats, using a combination of disciplines (taxonomy, ecology and genomics). I also strive to advance the science-policy-society interface, developing tools and transferring knowledge to support the implementation of agreements towards sustainable management and conservation of deep-sea vulnerable marine ecosystems.

Dr. Nikos Zampoukas

Policy Officer
European Commission, DG Research & Innovation, C4 – Healthy Seas and Oceans, Brussels, Belgium

Nikos Zampoukas is a biologist and holds an MSc and a PhD in oceanography from the University of Athens. He is currently developing, through instruments such as the Horizon Europe framework programme, research and innovation policy underpinning the EU Common Fisheries Policy, the Blue Growth Agenda and the European Green Deal.

Dr. Thanos Dailianis

Associate Researcher, Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology & Aquaculture
Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), Greece

Marine biologist, with a research focus on the biology of marine invertebrates, biodiversity, and ecosystem ecology through integrative approaches. An avid technical diver and coordinator of scientific surveys and field experiments. Currently working on the bioremediation potential of sponges in experimental polytrophic aquaculture.