Ana Gascón
Ana holds a degree in Political Science and Administration from the Complutense University of Madrid. She was top of his promotion in the Higher Program in Corporate Responsibility Management at the Instituto de Empresa. She also has other postgraduate courses such as the Master in European Integration from the College of Europe (Bruges, Belgium), the Master in European Union Law from the University of Alcalá de Henares and has also worked as a strategic consultant in different public and private entities.
Andrés Cózar
Antonio Márquez
President of the NGO Oceánidas. Graphic TV reporter, has traveled more than sixty countries for the realization of almost a hundred socio-political documentaries and nature for film and television. Diver and specialist in underwater filming, in 2005 he founded Oceánidas together with a group of colleagues related to the marine environment, and later, among many other projects and initiatives, he promoted the "Red de Vigilantes Marinos"" of which he is currently coordinator.
Arabelle Bentley
Arabelle Bentley began her career working as a research scientist at the Natural History Museum in London and later at the Open University, then spent several years producing academic course materials for the Open University’s science foundation courses. She moved to Shetland in 2011 where she was engaged first as a consultant and then in 2015 at the headquarters of KIMO, as KIMO International Executive Secretary. She facilitates the international work of the organisation and works closely with KIMOs national networks coordinating practical and research-based projects on marine environmental issues, researching and writing joint responses to public consultations and planning and executing strategies for dealing with emerging marine environmental threats. She leads the organisation in promoting KIMO’s work and raising awareness of the issues of marine environmental pollution and protection internationally.
Begoña de Benito
Begoña de Benito is the Director of External Relations and Corporate Social Responsibility at Ecoembes, where she brings her experience from the consumer goods sector. From this position she coordinates the relationship between Government Administrations, business organizations and NGOs. She has a Law Degree from the Complutense University of Madrid and a Master's Degree in Economics and Business Management from the IESE (University of Navarra). She has more than 20 years of experience as a senior executive with commercial management and marketing management functions in the consumer goods sector, working as purchasing director in several departments of Alhold and as commercial director of Dinosol, a company in which she was also member of the corporate management committee and the executive committee. She was also commercial and marketing director of the Spanish start-up Alice.es (e-commerce).
Carlos León
Carlos is a Consultant on Sustainability Business Innovation and Circular Economy. His current positions are Co-founder of Sustainn, a spanish Circular Economy consulting company; Cradle to Cradle & Circular Economy professor at IED Barcelona; Circular Economy Mentor at Circular Economy Club. Background: 15 years of experience in the Technology Department of a wind turbine manufacturer company as mechanical and structural design engineer, Structures Section Manager, Product & Technology development projects and Technical Review Function member. Education: Advanced Studies Diploma on Manufacturing and Materials at Universidad Pública de Navarra (Spain). Mechanical Engineer at Universidad Pública de Navarra (Spain).
Carmen Morales
Dr Carmen Morales Caselles is a Research Scientist at the Marine Litter Research Group at the Faculty of Marine and Environmental Sciences in the University of Cádiz (Spain) where she is working on understanding the inputs, distribution and fate of micro and macroplastics in the Global Ocean. Previously she lead the implementation of the PollutionTracker Project, a monitoring program from the Vancouver Aquarium to assess the presence of contaminants in sediment and their effects on the marine biota. Carmen holds a PhD in Marine Sciences specialized in marine pollution and ecotoxicology, in addition to an Erasmus Mundus Master’s degree in Water and Coastal Management. She has 23 peer-reviewed publications in internationally recognized journals and she is an active reviewer of scientific manuscripts, including participation on the Scientific Committee and Editorial Teams. Carmen spent several years working as a consultant at IOC-UNESCO where she was closely involved in the coordination of an ICAM project on indicators in Latin America and the “Assessment of Assessments” Report besides other UN initiatives.
Carolina Pérez
A lawyer by education, Carolina has over 20 years' experience in managing projects in the field of coastal management, planning and policy-development. She was previously project coordinator at the Coastal & Marine Union in the Netherlands and in 2003 moved to Barcelona to open its regional office for the Mediterranean. Soon after she began cooperating with MedCities and joined the team in 2017 as a Project Officer, working mainly on the Association's activities in the eastern Mediterranean. Her main fields of interest relate to sustainable socio-economic development and include participatory processes, adaptation to climate change, waste reduction and management and marine litter.
Célia Le Ravallec
Célia LE RAVALLEC hold a Master Degree in Integrated Coastal Zone and Ecosystem Management. She has joined the ACCOBAMS Permanent Secretariat as Project & Fundraising Officer in January 2012 after 6 years working abroad with different bilateral and multilateral organizations in the context of international cooperation and development aid (French Agency for Development, UNDP, Regional Activity Center for Specially Protected Areas of the UNEP/MAP system). She has been working on a wide variety of large-scale conservation projects, at the interface of science, management and environmental policies. Her scope of expertise covers the main drivers related to the conservation of marine biodiversity: establishment and management of MPAs, assessment and monitoring of human threats to marine environment and biodiversity, marine policy and governance… Within the ACCOBAMS Permanent Secretariat she is in particular in charge of the topics related to interactions of cetaceans with fisheries and marine litter.
César Aliaga
Head of the Sustainability Department of ITENE (Packaging, Transport and Logistics Research Centre). Main tasks: (1) Direction of R&D project on packaging and sustainability, (2) Definition of the lines of research of the department, (3) Definition of the strategy in Circular Economy, (4) Development of new R&D projects on Circular Economy with companies, (5) Coordination of the European project PLASTICIRCLE (€7,7M; 20 partners), (6) Coordination of the European project SCALIBUR (€12M; 21 partners), (7) Leader of the Advanced Leadership Foundation in Circular Economy. César Aliaga has a wide experience in projects on packaging sustainability (ecodesign, reuse, recycling and composting) as well as in new technologies for the valorization of plastic waste (sorting and delamination) and organic waste (decontamination, composting, fermentation and hydrolysis to obtain value-added products).
Christos Ioakeimidis
Dr. Christos Ioakeimidis is a Marine Scientist with a multidisciplinary scientific background in the fields of Environmental Sciences, Oceanology, Oceanography, with expert skills on Marine Litter. He holds a Ph.D on marine litter, peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals, posters/symposium papers, reports, and he is one of the main authors of “Hazardous Chemicals Associated with Plastics in the Environment” (Springer Publishing). He has participated in several research and monitoring cruises in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea (benthic litter, floating microplastics and on sediment) and he is member of the Technical Group on Marine Litter (EC MSFD TGML). He has been employed in both the private and public sectors, in positions of responsibility: Scientific Consultant at the Greek Ministry of Rural Development and Food, Marine Research Officer at the Presidency of the Council of the EU in Cyprus, Guest Lecturer at the University of the Aegean, Research Associate at the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (2013-2016) working for the PERSEUS (FP7) Research Project (T2.3.5 Marine Litter) along with offering his expertise at the Marine Group of the European Topic Center (ETC/ICM) of the European Environment Agency (EEA). He was actively involved in developing the EEA’s citizen-science Marine LitterWatch (MLW) smartphone App and introduced marine litter in environmental education in Greece. Currently he works for the United Nations Environment Program Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP/MAP) and its MED POL Programme as a Marine Litter Expert with special focus to prevent, control and effective management of marine litter in the Mediterranean Sea through the implementation of the Regional Plan on Marine Litter Management and the “Marine Litter MED Project”. Through his involvement in the study of marine litter, Christos has developed collaborations in both the Mediterranean and Black Seas and has generated new knowledge in the field.
Cristina Barreau
Cristina Barreau holds a Masters Degree in Law on Maritime Spaces and Activities from theUniversité de Bretagne Occidentale, (France). Cristina began a carreer working on the French maritime administration at the maritime safety department in Brest.
She joined Surfrider Foundation Europe a not-for-profit European organization in 2011 as marine litter project manager. Cristina oversees Surfrider’s work on marine debris which includes citizen science projects (Ocean initiatives), monitoring programs on beaches and freshwaters (both macro and microplastics). She also develops strategies to strengthen the implementation of existing legislation, and calls for new policies to prevent and tackle the input of waste to the oceans at national an European level. She participated in several scientific articles and technical reports related to riverine litter and sewage filter media
Cristina Fossi
Maria Cristina Fossi is Full Professor of Ecology and Ecotoxicology at the University of Siena (UNISI) and since 2000 is Scientific Director of the Biomarker Laboratory (CIBM). She gave a key contribution to the development of the biomarker approach in terrestrial and marine ecotoxicology. Her research has focused on: development of ecotoxicological test in bioindicator organisms for off-shore and on-shore oil extraction (ENI-IT), evaluation of endocrine disruptors in marine species, assessment of cetacean ecotoxicological status in Mediterranean Sea, Gulf of California, Indian Ocean, investigation on presence and effect of microplastics and plasticizers in Mediterranean ecosystems. Since 1991 she developed innovative diagnostic tools for ecotoxicological assessment of threatened species (marine mammals, birds, reptiles) bringing to the establishment of methods (non-destructive biomarker approach) currently acknowledged as golden standard at the international level.
Cristina Panti
Cristina Panti is a researcher at the University of Siena. She obtained her PhD in 2009 in Evolutionary Biology at the University of Siena. She has expertise on molecular (gene expression, genetic analysis) and ecotoxicological investigations for the assessment and monitoring of cetaceans and top predators health, developing innovative methods and the effects of plastic on marine fauna. She has been involved in national and international research projects concerning development of non-destructive biomarkers on sea turtles and marine mammals worldwide for endocrine disrupters, bio-monitoring of industrial activities, study of macro/microplastics in Mediterranean Sea. She participated to the national monitoring program for the implementation of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive for Descriptor 10. She is currently involved in the Plastic Busters MPAs Interreg-Med project.
Dania Abdul Malak
Dania supports the European Environment Agency (EEA) by developing integrated ecosystem assessment frameworks to evaluate the functional capacity of ecosystems to provide ecosystem services. Furthermore, she coordinates several regional initiatives and participates in numerous international research projects related to her field of expertise. More recently, Dania is supporting the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UNESCWA) in implementing sustainable development strategies in Western Asian countries.
David León
David León is Projects Coordinator at " HyT Association, Hombre y Territorio" since 2003. Doctor in Biology, diver and deeply conservationist, belongs to the Ecology Department of Seville University for more than 18 years. He has participated in many projects related to limnology, oceanography and its habitats or species, and has published several scientific articles and technical reports related to conservation. With a high experiencie in citizen science actions, is a part of the LIFE Blue Natura project partners, manager of sosredes project, editor in chief of Chronica naturae journal and coordinator of different actions related to marine litter in Spain.
Emanuele Bigagli
Emanuele works as marine litter expert for the Interreg MED Biodiversity Protection Communitiy featured by PANACeA. He has a background in International Politics and Environmental Law, and a PhD in Marine complex systems policy and management, with special focus on the Mediterranean. He has several years of experience in the marine policy domain at international level. From 2009 to 2013 (and in 2016), he worked for the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission on streamlining legal requirements for marine monitoring and assessment. In 2014-2015, he worked for the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, where he conducted research on the socio-economic consequences of climate change impacts on ocean ecosystems. As a professional expert, in 2018 he collaborated with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on the “Deep-Sea Lebanon” project. He currently collaborates with the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR) on the project “MELTEMI”, engaging local stakeholders against marine litter in the Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea. His fields of interest are in law, policy, and management of marine social-ecological systems at global, EU, and Mediterranean level, with special focus on marine litter; and in supporting marine data and information harmonisation, access, and sharing.
Estíbaliz López-Samaniego
Project Director of the Technical Area of the Association Cero Discharges. Doctor in Chemical Sciences, specialist in environmental control with more than 20 years of experience in the development of R+D+i projects in the management and treatment of solid and liquid waste. Since 2003 teacher and member of the coordination group of the Master in Waste Management and Treatment of the Autonomous University of Madrid. Founding member and research member of the Spanish Marine Litter Association (AEBAM).
Ethel Eljarrat
Ethel Eljarrat (PhD-1999) is Scientific Researcher at the Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA) - Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). With more than 25 years of research and 167 peer reviewed publications, her work mainly focuses on persistent and emerging organic pollutants, with special emphasis on plasticizers, halogenated and organophosphate flame retardants, chlorinated paraffins, pyrethroid insecticides and apolar pesticides. She works on bioaccumulation and biomagnification in aquatic and terrestrial organisms, as well as human exposure to these pollutants through food and indoor/outdoor. Currently, she investigated the impact of plastic pollution in marine species from the Mediterranean Sea, South Atlantic and Indian Ocean. She also participated as expert in the topic "Pollution by plastics" in the Congress of Deputies (Madrid) for the advice to politicians. She has worked in several EU projects as GLOBAQUA, ECSafeSeaFOOD, SEA-on-a-CHIP … Currently she participates in SEAFOODTOMORROW and INTERWASTE.
Filipa Bessa
Filipa Bessa is a biologist and researcher at MARE – Marine and Environmental Research Centre from the University of Coimbra (Portugal), with a background on Marine Ecology and a PhD in Biosciences from the University of Coimbra in collaboration with the University of Florence (Italy). Her current research focus is related with the assessment of the effects of (micro)plastic pollution on marine and coastal ecosystems. To this regard, she is involved in several national and European research projects and she is a member of the International Working Group “ Micro and Nano Plastics” in support of the European Commission Scientific Advice Mechanism (SAM). In the last three years she was involved in BASEMAN research project – Defining the baselines and standards for microplastics analyses in European waters – focusing on the development of common methodologies to monitor
microplastics in different environmental matrices. She coordinates projects related with innovative tools to detect and mitigate marine litter and associated with citizen science (the portuguese app for map marine litter on sandy beaches: www-lixomarinho.app). In parallel, she is involved in several outreach activities and science communication initiatives (exhibitions, seminars and workshops) related with ocean literacy and plastic pollution.
Francisco López-Castejón
Degree in Oceanography from the University of Cadiz (Spain), Masters in “Informatics and mathematics applied to science and engineering” and PhD in Coastal lagoon hydrodynamics. Involveved in different research Projects about the use of underwater vehicles fleets as URready4OS to detect underwater oil spill (http://www.upct.es/urready4os) or Sunfish (Mola mola) tracking (https://sunfish.lsts.pt/). He also enjoys engaging with the public on the use of underwater robotics to explore the oceans.
Franck Lauwers
Franck Lauwers joined REMPEC as Programme Officer (Prevention) on 9 March 2015. He holds a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering, Geosciences and Environment from the Ecole Supérieure de l’Energie et des Matériaux de l’Université d’Orléans, France. He also obtained a certificate of advanced studies in Environmental Diplomacy from the Université de Genève, Switzerland in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme. He joined the Malta Environment and Planning Authority in 2002, where he worked on a broad range of topics related to environment protection at national, European and international level, addressing the international shipping dimension of issues such as waste management, ship recycling, climate change, the global environmental aspects of sustainable development as well as policy issues discussed in the framework of the Barcelona Convention, its Protocols and the Mediterranean Action Plan.
Duties and responsibilities of Mr. Lauwers at REMPEC include a variety of technical, policy and regional regulatory duties related to marine environment protection issues and, in particular, to prevention of pollution from ships, assisting the Head of Office on policy issues regarding regional activities in that field and providing technical assistance and expert advice to the competent national authorities of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention, amongst others.
Francesca López Cortés
Francesca López Cortés is biologist and director of the National Park of Cabrera, in the Balearic Islands. She has developed her professional career at the park, first in the surveillance unit, later with the interpretation team as educator and also as conservation technician. She became director in 2017.
François Galgani
Dr. Francois Galgani is s Project Manager at IFREMER and head of the Laboratory Environment and resources in Corsica, France. With more than 30 years of research and 110 peer reviewed publications in Oceanology and Environmental Sciences, his work mainly focuses on marine litter and ecotoxicology. He is also working on the implementation of monitoring and currently serves as chair of the scientific and technical group or the European commission/ DG environment group on marine litter. He is also chairman of the CIESM committee on Biogeochemistry, and member of the international scientific groups on marine litter from UNEP (OSPAR and MEDPOL) and UNESCO (Gesamp WG on microplastics).
Fuensanta Salas
Fuensanta Salas is a Biologist, PhD by the University of Murcia (Spain). She is an expert in environmental management with a wide experience on the implementation of the Environmental normatives in coastal waters. She has worked in the University, Research centres, National and International institutions, participating in working groups and assuming a leadership role.She has participated in numerous projects and has published books and many scientific papers, focused on environmental management, and on the development and evaluation of tools for the detection of the pollution in coastal and transitional waters. She actually works in the Joint ResearchCentre (JRC)-European Commission being the coordinator of the Intercalibration of biological metrics to establish ecological status, on the harmonization of nutrients boundaries, physical chemical and hydromorphological methodologies in coastal waters.
Garbiñe Ayensa
Garbiñe Ayensa is a PhD in Biology from the University Complutense of Madrid, Spain. Since 2005 she is the Head of Documentation and Scientific Support Unit of INTECMAR, Xunta de Galicia, where she is involved in the regional contingency plan for marine pollution. She has worked in several EU projects as EASY, EASYCO, RAIA projects series; ARCOPOL projects series and MARINER, always within the framework of maritime safety and maritime pollution in coastal areas. Currently she participates in MARRISK (funded by the EU under the POCTEP program), MYCOAST and CleanAtlantic projects (funded by the INTERREG Atlantic Area program), the latter being related to marine litter.
George Triantafyllou
Dr. George Triantafyllou is a Research Director of the Institute of Oceanography at HCMR. He holds a PhD in Oceanography, after his MSc in Oceanography and BSc in Mathematics. He is currently the Coordinator of the H2020 CLAIM project (774586, H2020-BG-2017-1), while he was national coordinator or Principal Investigator in fifteen (15) EU and national research projects (6) and scientific responsible or task leader in 12 EU projects and 6 national. His research interests include data assimilation and operational marine ecosystems modelling, marine ecosystem management, marine pollutant models, nonlinear prediction, climate dynamics, development and application of individual based models (IBM). He has published more than 80 peer-reviewed articles whereas he has attracted 20,665,096 Euros of funding in his research career.
Gloria de Paoli
Gloria De Paoli is an environmental economist at ACTeon since 2011, where she works on water management and marine issues. She is involved in the ResponSEAble, a Horizon 2020 research project aimed at understanding and communicating to the public the complex human-ocean relationships, as well as the economic benefits that we derive from marine and coastal ecosystems; among others, she is in charge of exploring blue growth aspects of key marine sectors. For the Conservatoire du Littoral in France, Gloria analyzed existing innovative economic instruments for financing the operating costs of marine protected area, both in France and in Europe.
At the European level, Gloria coordinated an EU-wide assessment on the potential for growth and job creation through the protection of water resources, where she worked at the interface between EU water policy and macro-economic strategies, analyzing how water policy implementation can promote or constraint economic development and employment in the EU. She also coordinated a study on managing water demand in Europe for the EEA, which includes a review of price and non-price measures as well as an assessment of price elasticity of water demand. Outside Europe, Gloria is in charge of ACTeon’s contribution to the OECD initiatives in the Caucasus on strengthening the economic and financial dimension of water management in the region.
Gloria García
Geologist by education, she works since 2016 at Cabo de Gata Nijar MPA in Almería, where she occupies the position of Scientific Advisor at Cabo de Gata Nijar UNESCO global geopark.
In 2017 the MPA became involved in the Interreg MED ACT4LITTER project, and Gloria joined the technical team in charge. From that moment her involvement in marine conservation issues has been increasing and right now she is in charge of the implementation of the Marine Litter Action Plan together with the MPA manager and the rest of the team.
Ignacio Marco
Ignacio Marco holds a degree in Chemistry from the The Autonomous University of Madrid, and a MBA from the Spanish Business School Instituto de Empresa. Ignacio has an extensive profesional career with more than 30 years of experience in the chemical and plastic industry. He has held various management positions at Exxon and Repsol. Prior to joining PlasticsEurope, he was Director of New Business Development & Innovation at Repsol Química. Previously, and during 7 years, he held the position of CEO of Dynasol, a multinational company in the rubber sector, a joint Venture between Spanish Repsol and Mexican KUO. In January 2017, he was appointed General Manager of the Iberian Region of PlasticsEurope, the European Association of Plastic Raw Materials manufacturers. In this position Ignacio dedicates much of his time to communicate on the contribution of plastics to Circular Economy and on the commintment of the plastic’s industry to seek for solutions to the marine litter global challenge.
Ignasi Mateo
Ignasi Mateo is a Chemist, with a master in Environmental Management. Project manager in the Catalan Waste Agency and the SPC/RAC (UNEP/MAP). Since 2012 he has worked in the design and coordination of the 'MARVIVA' project, a fishing for litter project in collaboration with the fishermen from 14th Catalan Ports and in the promotion of the project ‘Bring your nets back to shore, Recycle’ to valorize the fishing nets.
From June 2017 he has worked as Project manager of Interreg Med Project ACT4LITTER, which aims to facilitate efforts for tackling marine litter in Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), through the development of effective and targeted measures.
From April 2019 he works as Project manager of Interreg Med Project Plastic Busters MPAs. This project aims to contribute to maintaining biodiversity and preserving natural ecosystems in pelagic and coastal MPAs by consolidating Mediterranean efforts to curb marine litter.
Irene Díez
Irene is General Manager of Ecoalf Foundation. Environmentalist by training, her career has been focused on project management. She was linked to environmental education, governance, investigation and rural development while she worked for Salamanca University, administration and third sector institutions. For more than 5 years she was involved with consultancy area, particularly in the field of Corporate Responsibility. Currently she is the General Manager at ECOALF Foundation where she coordinates Upcyling the Oceans, a revolutionary circular economy project whose main objective is to recover the trash that is destroying the sea and transform it into top quality yarn to produce textile products.
Irene Ruiz
Irene Ruiz Muñoz holds a BSc in Civil Engineering at the University of Alfonso X El Sabio (Spain) and MSc in Coastal and Port Engineering at the University of Cantabria (Spain). She has worked as project officer at Surfrider España, in the framework of LIFE LEMA project. In 2018, she joined the Area of Marine Technologies of AZTI and since, she is undertaking her PhD studies on the distribution, pathways and sources of floating marine litter in the SE of the Bay of Biscay.
Isabel Goyena
Isabel has a degree in Chemical Sciences, specialising in technical chemistry and a Higher Programme in Engineering and Environmental Management from the School of Industrial Organisation (EOI).
During the last 25 years he has developed his experience in the field of waste, recycling and plastics. He has worked for 22 years in the engineering company IDOM carrying out studies of waste in the field of packaging and plastic, always promoting prevention, selective waste collection and recycling.
In 2016 she joined CICLOPLAST as Technical Director, coordinating technical R+D+i projects for circular economy in the field of packaging and plastics and packaging prevention. In February 2018 she was appointed General Director of CICLOPLAST. She has been President of Cicloagro and is also the Spanish representative of EPRO (European Plastics Recovery and Recycling Organizations) and a member of panels of experts in the field of plastics and sustainability. She is currently President of the Paisaje Limpio Association.
Jesús Gago
Researcher in Oceanography at IEO, Scientific Coordinator of national and EU projects in the field of Marine Environment. He leads the team working in marine litter at IEO. Focal point for the MSFD process in descriptor 10 (marine litter) at the Spanish Ministry of Environment. Member of the GES/ TG Marine Litter (2012-actual) and the UNEP/MEDPOL expert Group on Marine litter (2014-2015) and invited to meetings on marine litter at national and international level.
Jesús Jiménez López
Jesús Jiménez López is a biologist, GIS and Remote Sensing Specialist. He is currently interested in the use of drones for research applications in the field of conservation and management. As part of the CleanAtlantic Project, the research team is assessing the feasibility of using drone based high resolution aerial images to detect and quantify marine litter.
Jo Ruxton
Jo Ruxton is a passionate campaigner for the oceans, her career in conservation began in the ‘80’s when she started the first marine programme for WWF in Hong Kong, where she lived for 14 years. During that time, she was a key advocate for the establishment of the first marine protected areas there.
She was a lead member of the BBC Natural History Unit’s diving team for many years and has been producing and directing underwater sequences since the first days of filming on the award-winning Blue Planet series in 1997. During her 12 years at the BBC she was involved in numerous underwater films from Antarctica to the pristine reefs of the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean for the BBC and Discovery Channel.
Disappointed in the lack of conservation messages in the BBC films she worked on, she decided to leave to work independently and when she started to hear about the problem of plastic waste in the oceans, she knew she had to tell the story as it was. She began to raise the funds needed to make the documentary feature, A Plastic Ocean and it was 2 years before there was enough to begin filming. The more she learned about the subject the more determined she was to tell the story as research was revealing a much bigger problem than she had ever imagined. It was 8 years before the multi-award-winning film was finally released in 60 countries and in 15 languages.
Jo co-founded the Plastic Oceans Foundation as a registered UK charity 10 years ago to help the fundraising process and to continue the legacy of the film through three main programmes, Science, Sustainability and Education
Joachim Quoden
Joachim Quoden has been fully licensed as lawyer in Bonn, Germany, since June 1995. For 13 years he worked as in-house lawyer of the company “Der Grüne Punkt – Duales System Deutschland GmbH” which is dealing with the organisation of the selective collection of packaging throughout all of Germany. The company is well-known by its trade mark “The Green Dot” and the Yellow Bin and sack emplyoed to collect used packaging from households. Starting January 2001, he served as Head of International Affairs of DSD and was vested with general commercial powers of representation in 2003. Also in January 2001 he became Secretary General of PRO EUROPE, the umbrella organisation of 35 packaging recovery organisations located in 33 European countries and in Ontario, Canada as well as Israel. From April 2005 until February 2013 he was the Managing Director of this organisation. In May 2014 he was appointed as Managing Director of EXPRA (Extended Producer Responsibility Alliance) which is an alliance of packaging recovery organizations which are owned by obliged industry and work on a non Profit Basis. Currently, 19 packaging recovery organizations from 18 countries from all around the world are members of EXPRA. Mr. Quoden posseses very detailed knowledge of the implementation of the Packaging Directive in the different European Member States as well as in other countries around the world. His advice is frequently solicited in the course of implementing and amending the respective packaging legislation in various countries.
Juan Antonio Romero
Juan A. Romero is Director of Seville Aquarium; CEO of Ocean conservation foundation “Azul Marino”; member of the Scientific committee of the Fundacion Oceanogràfic, Valencia.
Since 1988 has work in marine conservation worldwide as director of some of the world largest aquariums as well been a Natural History film maker working with the Cousteau Society, BBC, NG, Discovery and many other marine documentary programs.
Juan María Ruiz
Responsible For The Protection Of The Marine Environment Of Plasticseurope Ibérica
He co-directs the technical department of the pan-European association of plastics producers, PlasticsEurope, in its Iberian regional center. He is responsible for the program for control of pellets OCS® for Spain and Portugal and collaborates in the activities of PlasticsEurope focused on the relationship with national and European authorities and with the media. He studied Biology Sciences in Complutense University o Madrid.
Laura Corredor
Laura Corredor recently finished a master's in Marine Biology at the University of Coruña. Her master's thesis was supervised by Dra. Estíbaliz Lopez-Samaniego from Association Cero Discharges and consisted of a study of the affection of marine litter on certain stages of reproduction of the loggerhead turtle on Sal Island. In addition, she is a diving instructor and a professional commercial diver. She is currently starting her career in the professional world, focused in marine conservation.
Juan Pablo Pérez
Juan Pablo Pérez is an environmental biologist with more than 10 years experience in the management of R&D and Innovation projects related to the marine environment. He received his degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Santiago de Compostela and furthered his education with masters degrees in Environmental Management and Engineering (EOI Business School) and Fisheries and Aquaculture Economics and Management (University of Vigo).
He's a founding member of AEBAM and has been since 2017 the technical coordinator of the LitterDrone project, which had as its objective the development of an innovative tool for remote control and management of marine litter through drones.
Magali Outters
SwitchMed Policy at the Regional Activity Centre for Sustainable Consumption and Production. Magali is an Engineer in “Materials: Economics and Environment” from the University of Technology of Troyes (France), She also holds a Master of Industrial Ecology, precursor of circular economy and a Post-graduate degree on International Development.
She gained significant expertise in sustainable consumption and production (SCP) in the Mediterranean region with more than 12 years advocating for this approach and by being actively involved in numerous capacity building projects, technical studies, developing specific tools and pilot initiatives with governments, private sector organizations and Civil Society Organisations. She recently coordinated the development process of a Mediterranean Action Plan on Sustainable Consumption and Production, focused on food and agriculture, goods manufacturing, tourism and housing and construction sectors that was adopted by the 21 Mediterranean countries in February 2016, during the last Conference of the Parties to the Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean against the pollution. Under SwitchMed initiative, she is currently coordinating the Policy Area for SCP/RAC (UNEP/MAP).
Margarita Ruiz Saiz-Aja
Margarita Ruiz Saiz-Aja is the General Subdirector on Waste of Spanish Ministry for Ecological Transition. She mainly works on establishing the policy of waste in Spain and on coordination with regions and local entities. Her previous positions include Deputy of general subdirector on waste, Technical Advisor in the General Subdirectorate on Waste (2008 – 2012) and Career Officer (starting as Advanced Technician) in the General Subdirectorate on Waste (2005-2008). Previously she worked in private company as technician in a chemistry laboratory (TECNOMA) specialized in water (2002-2003). She was also Grantee in the National Doping Control Laboratory (2001-2002) and Technician in IT consulting company SYSMA, Consulting and Systems (2000-2001). Margarita has a chemical engineering degree from Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) (1994-1999)
Maria Cabrera
María holds a degree in Advertising and Public Relations from The Complutense University of Madrid. She has a ten year wide experience in different Medias. She has been working for Paisaje Limpio since 2014, where she is Responsible for Communication. María develops Public Relations with the CSR of private companies and has European interlocution with associations that work against littering and its effects on Climate Change. In addition, she coordinates environmental research projects on litter in nature. She is currently working on the development of a methodology on knowledge of the litter in waterways, which helps provide solutions to the problem of marine litter.
Marina González
Communication Manager of the Association Cero Discharges. Bachelor in Biological Sciences and Diploma in Management and Treatment of Solid Waste by the Autonomous University of Madrid, has extensive experience in the sectors of graphic editing (on and off-line), communication and organization of events in the scientific and socio-cultural fields , both in companies or organizations of the private sector and the public sector (MNCN, UAM Scientific Culture Unit, CIEMAT, Ministry of Education, UNED), activities that are also frequently carried out for non-profit and charitable associations. Participates in different projects of Cero Discharges and coordinates the communication and training activities of the Association.
Marinha Guizán
Marinha Guizán Cascón holds a Degree in Oceanography at the Universidade de Vigo and several educational courses and trainings in Science Communication and Divulgation and Environmental Education and Interpretation.
Since 2016, she joined, as Education and Divulgation Marine Technician, to Sea Obserbatory of the Azores (OMA). OMA is a technical, scientific and cultural nonprofit association at Faial Island, Azores. In this association, she, with the rest of the team, creates activities, gives workshops, organize events, lectures, outreach science projects…about different marine science thematic, and one of the thematic, the most worked for them, is Marine Litter.
In addition of her official work, she is a founding member of the Nonprofit association Katiuskas, a social and environmental galician association, and Volunteer Coordinator and Marine Scientist at Coordinator for the Study of Marine Mammals (CEMMA, galician ONG).
Marie-Aude Sévin
Marie-Aude Sévin is the Marine Programme Manager of the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation. She has been working on marine environment issues since 2009, starting in the West Coast of Madagascar on the field with local communities for the Blue Ventures NGO. Her experience at the French Marine protected areas agency on the French MPA policies department and as manager of the 3rd International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC3) let us her be aware and understand the main international and regional objectives for protecting marine environment: from sciences to policies, including the crucial dialogue with the civil society to fill the gap between the global objectives and the field’s capacities. At the French Biodiversity Agency, she followed up and participated to the creation of this new public Agency. Then she worked on international cooperation mostly on MPA and climate change by participating at the COP 21 and 22. She was elected in December 2016 for 3 years Chair of the sea and costal working group of the Protected Area Commission at the French committee of the IUCN and left her mandate while joining IUCN Centre in May 2017.
Marisa Fernández
PhD in Chemical Sciences, Marisa Fernández was in charge of the coordination of the Network of European National Reference Laboratories for Marine Toxins for more than 9 years at the EU Community Reference Laboratory on Marine Toxins, where she acted as Chairman of EU Working Groups related to marine toxins hosted by the EU Commission. Since 2002, she is the Head of the Department of Control and Management of Marine Environment & Resources in CETMAR, where she has been coordinating regional, national and EU projects and networks related to maritime safety, marine pollution and marine litter. She was the project leader of the EU projects ARCOPOL, ARCOPOL plus and ARCOPOL Platform funded under the Atlantic Area Programme and of MARINER project funded by DG ECHO. From 2006, she is coordinating the Spanish Technological Platform for the Protection of the Coast and the Marine Environment PROTECMA and is currently leading CleanAtlantic Project.
Marta Martínez-Gil
General Subdirectorate for the Protection of the Sea. Ministry for Ecological Transition. Spanish Government.Degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of Alcalá, Master in Environmental Engineering and Water Management (EOI, Madrid). Began her professional career at Eptisa, Engineering Services, working on the design of water treatment plants and in the field of hydrological planning. Began her public service at the Center for Studies of Ports and Coasts of CEDEX, where she worked on different environmental aspects related to the marine environment.
Since May 2013, she has been working in the General Subdirectorate for the Protection of the Sea of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and more recently as Head of Human Activities Area linked to Marine Strategies as well as to the International Conventions for the Protection of the Sea.
Maryse Vermette
Mrs Vermette has held management positions in public and private cubside recycling organizations in Quebec, Canada, pioneering developments in an activity sector that is vital for the circular economy. She holds a bachelor’s degree in urban planning and an MBA. Since 2008, she has been President and CEO of Eco Entreprises Quebec (EEQ) a private, non-profit organization that finances municipal curbside recycling programs.Miguel Muñoz
Graduate in Environmental Sciences in the University Juan Carlos I and Postgraduate in Renewable Energy, Fuel Cells and Hydrogen in the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). He works as environmental technician in SEO/BirdLife since 2010, coordinating and executing different environmental education and volunteering projects since 2010. He is part of the coordination of LIBERA Project and initiative of SEO Bird/LIFE in alliance with Ecoembes. The objective of this initiative is to raise awareness and motivate citizens to keep these natural areas free from litter. To do this, LIBERA proposes a strategy for tackling the problem which has three dimensions: awareness, prevention and participation.
Mohamad Kayyal
Mohamad Kayyal is Programme management officer at MEDPOL, UN Environment/MAP since 2018. Previously he was the World Health Organization in Syria as Technical Officer for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH). Other relevant background includes positions at the German development bank in Syria and the Faculty of Civil Engineering at Damascus University.
Morgana Vighi
Morgana Vighi is a postdoctoral researcher at the Fundació Bosch i Gimpera of the University of Barcelona. She holds a PhD in marine biodiversity, investigating distribution range and population structure of large cetaceans through chemical markers; a MSc in Marine Biology and a Specialization Master focused on the management and conservation of marine and coastal environments. Her main research interests concern marine mammal biology and ecology and, in general, environmental conservation. During the past decade she has been involved in various projects about marine mammals, marine biology and conservation across Europe and in the USA. In 2008 she started a long-term collaboration with the Tethys Research Institute, being Field Principal Investigator within the Cetacean Sanctuary Research project in the Ligurian Sea for the past 8 years. Since 2016 Morgana got involved in the Interreg-MED MEDSEALITTER project, focusing on the development of common methodologies to monitor marine litter and its impacts in the Mediterranean Sea. She has been in charge of the coordination of the Testing activities of the project, being able to get in touch with a growing network of researchers and stakeholders, enlarge her knowledge about the problem of marine litter, get familiar with new technologies such as remote sensing and aerial photography for marine monitoring, and thus increase her overall awareness of the most current issues of marine conservation.
Oihane C.Basurko
OIHANE C. BASURKO (BSc in Environmental Science, MSc Environmental Engineering) completed her PhD degree in sustainability assessment of marine technologies at Newcastle University, UK (2010). Since 2010, she has been involved in research projects related to fishing, aquaculture and shipping, particularly on their interaction with marine litter and energy efficiency. She is the technical coordinator of EU projects LIFE LEMA and BLUENET.
Paula Sobral
Professor of Environmental Sciences @ Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, researcher @ MARE - Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre working on marine litter and microplastics sources and sinks and the effects of microplastics contamination on marine organisms.
Pedro Fernández
Project Manager at SPC/RAC (UNEP/MAP)
Environmental scientist with over 10 years experience in coordinating and contributing to projects in the field of governance, planning, policy development, circular economy and nature conservation.
"After finishing my environmental studies at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, I specialized in field and policy support projects with the aim to establish integrated management schemes in coastal areas of the Mediterranean, including Spain, Morocco, France and Montenegro.
My experience record includes developing methodologies and leading team work, training and coaching coastal stakeholders willing to establish integrated management schemes in coastal areas of Mediterranean with especial attention to the participatory and information sharing processes. In this role I have recently led BojaNaTour, an ICZM project in Montenegro focusing on tourism and nature. Moreover, I contributed to several EU funded projects related to ICZM, including SPICOSA, CORIMAT, MARCOM+ and APICE.
Acquainted with all aspects of EU and Mediterranean policy concerning marine litter reductions, currently I manage the Sustainable Consumption and Production component of the Marine Litter MED project, led by UNEP/MAP. I am also chairman of the political advocacy commission of the Spanish Marine Litter Association."
Pilar Zorzo
Pilar Zorzo is a marine biologist with more than 25 years of experience in public and private sectors as project designer and coordinator on the impact of human activities in marine environment, and the negotiation and national implementation of the International Conventions for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the marine European Directives. She began her public service in 2018 at the Centre for Harbours and Coastal Studies of the Centre for Experimentation and Studies on Public Works (CEDEX) where she has been working in the Directorate of Marine Environment on Marine Strategies. Since its foundation in 2015, Pilar is the President of the Spanish Marine Litter Association.
Ramiro Neves
Environmental Modeler. Professor of Fluid Mechanics and Environmental Modeling at the Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), University of Lisbon. Promotor of the development of the integrated modelling system MOHID that includes a plastic debris transport model. In the framework of the development of this model he has supervised 22 PhD thesis and participated in more than 60 international projects, including plastic debris and incidental pollution.
Rubén Rodríguez
Rubén Rodríguez Alonso is a biologist with more than 10 years experience in the management of R&D and Innovation projects related to the marine environment and to the waste management. He received his degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Vigo and furthered his education with master degree in Research, Management, Treatment and Recovery of Organic Waste from the Miguel Hernández University of Elche.
Since 2018, Ruben has worked as projects coordinator in Galicia for the Association Cero Discharges. Nowadays he is currently involved in different marine litter projects such as REPESCAPLAS, Mares Circulares or Oceanets in which he develops technical and coordination tasks.
Salud Deudero
Research Professor Salud Deudero. PhD in Biology (Spain, 1998), MsC in Fundamental and Applied Marine Ecology (Belgium, 1993). Co-chair of CIESM Committee on Marine Ecosystems and living resources (www.ciesm.org).
Permanent researcher at the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO, www.ieo.es) main research lines are in coastal ecology focusing on food webs (stable isotopes), invasive species, marine protected areas, contaminants effects on marine biota, marine biodiversity, vulnerable species focusing on anthropic impacts into the coastal zone and interactions of marine litter, mainly microplastics, with biota (fish elasmobranchs, crustaceans) and response of biota to the ingestion of microplastics. Identification and analyses of microplastics in environmental compartments (coastal sediment). Experience on scuba diving surveys, stable isotopes analyses, biomarkers and marine litter analyses.
Started her professional career more than 15 years ago, linked to communication, protocol and organization of events, she helds a degree in Advertising and Public Relations, with a Master’s in Corporate Communication, and a Master’s Degree in Education. She develops her career in communication agencies where she is linked to educational, cultural and tourism issues fundamentally. After 3 years at Fundación Telefónica where she developed educational projects, she began her career in the environmental field with LIBERA, SEOBirdLife and Ecoembes, where she coordinates the project, joining efforts among the different actors involved.
Silvia Revenga
Ms. Silvia Revenga Martínez de Pazos has a PhD in Biology (Aquatic Ecology) awarded by the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. In 1980, she began to work on artificial reefs and red coral in the Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO) and continued since 1985 in the General Secretary for Fisheries.
In 1985, she started to work for the Secretaría General de Pesca Marítima (now the General Secretariat for Fisheries of the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food) with the Multiannual Guidance Programmes within the Framework of the Fisheries Structural Policy: Artificial reefs, Marine and Inland aquaculture and Marine reserves.
Since 1986, when the Isla de Tabarca Marine Reserve was put in force, she has been working as technical officer in marine reserves created to enhance SSF, now 11 amp belonging to the Marine Reserves Network. As part of the technical team of marine reserve management unit she is dealing with scientific aspects, follow up, climate change impacts, marine litter, awareness action, web site, as well as international projects where marine reserve are asked to participate (INTERREG as MIMAR, ACT4LITTER), LIFE + INDEMARES, SHARA and as well, collaborating the part that marine reserves for SSF do have in other UE policies such as Marine Strategies and Conservations amps as all the marine reserves are too part of Natura 2000 network and for the Mediterranean ones are part of MEDPAN whereas 4 of them are too ASPIM
She has participated in fora such as FAO, IMPAC3 and is teacher in the Master of Natural Protected Areas in the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.
Sonia Albein
Sonia holds a University Degree in Environmental Science. Working in AIMPLAS at the Sustainability and Industrial Recovery Unit since January 2018 as technical researcher, developing processing and works about recycling and material valorisation topics. She has been involved in national and international R&D projects funded under, Life Program (RECYPACK), H2020 (ECOBULK), FB (REPESCAPLAS), developing technical and coordination tasks. She also has experience in management and processing of domestic packaging waste fraction and its facilities. Expert in a range of techniques for the separation of polymers, as well as research and innovation in new, emerging techniques.
Sonsoles San Román
Sonsoles joined ETC-UMA as Communication officer to support the establishment of a strong science-policy interface particularly on biodiversity protection and sustainable development. Regional networking and collaboration with major international and regional institutions, government agencies, civil society organizations, the scientific community, the private sector and the public at large has been the basis for her work. Her professional experience has involved the coordination, production and management of project and communication activities in various international organizations like the European Foundation Centre in Brussels and IUCN Mediterranean in Malaga. She is also author of various articles for the magazines of the Spanish Ministry of Environment and Andalusia’s government and pursues her career as independent editor and communication consultant.
Tania Montoto
Tania is a PhD student at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Canary Islands, Spain). Her research interests are related to environmental pollution prevention and conservation management initiatives; and her current work is linked to the development of a microplastic monitoring device to perform onboard opportunity vessels, in the context of the MARCET Project. She combines her research work with volunteer activism in the NGO Ecologistas en Acción.
Tony Kingsbury
Tony Kingsbury is the EMEA Director of Sustainability and Advocacy for Dow’s Packaging & Specialty Plastics (P&SP) business. He is responsible for developing and implementing short and long-term P&SP sustainability strategy. Additionally, the role includes working collaboratively across the industry to drive needed change including but not limited to circularity of plastics and insuring that plastics do not enter the environment, especially our oceans. Thus the role also includes working with all manner of stakeholders including NGO’s, customers, brand owners, retailers, governments and associations to seek and deliver sustainable solutions.
Kingsbury honed his sustainability expertise during a three decade long career at in a variety of roles including Global Plastics Sustainability Leader. He is a recognized expert in circular economy, marine plastics, green chemistry, value chain sustainability, public policy, life cycle thinking, corporate and product sustainability. He has worked with Fortune 500 companies around the globe in supply chains ranging from packaging to consumer electronics, apparel to toys. He is known for using his wide ranging knowledge of the whole supply chain to find workable solutions to complex sustainability challenges and for distilling complex messages into understandable language. Not satisfied to work solely in a corporate environment, Kingsbury spent the period between 2007 and 2012 as a Dow Executive in Residence at University of California, Berkeley. In this role, Kingsbury led a multidisciplinary sustainability center and taught a variety of graduate level sustainability courses. In 2012 he left Dow to consult in the sustainable plastics and chemicals space. In early 2019 he returned to Dow in his current role.
Vanessa Sarah Salvo
Vanessa Sarah Salvo is a PhD in Environmental Sciences with a specialization in Marine Science from the University of Genoa Studies (Italy) and Master in Project Management from the University of Barcelona. Since 2014 she has been in charge of the offices of the Spanish delegation of Surfrider Foundation Europe. She has worked nationally and internationally for public environmental management agencies, universities and NGOs, always within the framework of environmental protection and management of coastal areas and inland waters.