External Expert Identification Committee

Dr. Melanie Austen is Professor of Ocean and Society at the University of Plymouth where she is also Director of its Centre for Systems Thinking: Ocean, Land and Society. She has pioneered international and national marine natural capital and ecosystem services research for 20+ with 120+ publications. She has led collaborative, interdisciplinary research in relevant projects, including on coastal communities in Southeast Asia (Global Challenges Research Fund Blue Communities), economic impact from change in marine life across the European Union (Vectors of Change in Oceans and Seas Marine Life, Impact of Economic Sectors) and Southwest United Kingdom (UK) ‘Natural Capital’ (South West Partnership for Environmental and Economic Prosperity). She currently leads the Centre for Doctoral Training in Sustainable Management of Marine Resources, which is training the next generation of transdisciplinary marine researchers and practitioners. She is a member of the boards of the UK Government agencies Natural England and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, was on the UK Government’s Natural Capital Committee, and served a 3-year term as the first Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Government's Marine Management Organization; she is Chair of the Partnership of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Biosphere Reserve in North Devon, UK.

Biography to follow.

Dr. Karin Kroon Boxaspen is Research Director at Norway's Institute of Marine Research (IMR). With over 1200 employees, IMR is one of the largest marine institutes in Europe. IMR is the main advisor to the Norwegian Ministry of Trade, Industry and its underlying Directorates and Agencies within Norway in matters of the ocean. This includes stock assessment, sustainable aquaculture, safe and healthy seafood, and environment and climate change.

Dr. Boxaspen coordinates the formal advisory process within IMR (except for international stock advice that comes through the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES)). She also manages the underlying nine program Directors responsible for the project portfolio of IMR. Previously, she was the Head of the Program for Aquaculture Research and Advice for six years. She has also worked on developing the advice for this area internationally as co-chair for the ICES working group on Aquaculture (WGAQUA).

Her main area of research expertise sea lice (ectoparasite), the main disease problem in the Norwegian salmon farming industry. She is one of the international experts in this field with a focus on salmon lice biology and chemical treatments in aquaculture. She was also instrumental in developing the “hydrodynamic – biological coupled dispersal models for sea lice” used today. She was appointed to the Norwegian national “Steering group for effects of salmon lice on wild Atlantic salmon” in 2016 and has been its leader in two periods and is the current leader of this committee.

She received an MSc in biotechnology from the Norwegian Technical University (now NTNU) in 1986. She earned her PhD at University of Bergen, Chemical Department in 2002 on the use of natural biocides against the ectoparasitic sea lice on Atlantic salmon. She has worked at IMR since 1987.

Dr. Steven Cooke is a Canada Research Professor of Environmental Science and Biology at Carleton University. His research spans the natural and social sciences with a focus on understanding and solving complex problems facing aquatic ecosystems. He works closely with diverse partners to co-produce actionable science. He is also the founding Director of the Canadian Centre for Evidence-Based Conservation where he leads a team conducting evidence syntheses and policy scans. He recently served as the President of the Society for Canadian Aquatic Sciences and is currently the Chair of the Board of Technical Experts for the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the American Fisheries Society and is a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher.

Dr. Alan Haynie is General Secretary of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). He was previously Chair of ICES Strategic Initiative on the Human Dimension and United States (US) alternate to ICES Science Committee. He has also been active in the North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES) and Ecosystem Studies of Arctic and Subarctic Seas (ESSAS) and has diverse experience with marine science and economics leadership, stakeholder engagement, climate change research, policy analysis and development, strategic planning, and organizational excellence. Before coming to ICES, he spent 18 years at National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Organization (NOAA) Fisheries in Seattle, focusing on North Pacific, Arctic, national and international initiatives. He has organized scientific workshops and conferences and communicated with diverse audiences including the public, fishery managers, government ministers, legislative and executive leaders, and Indigenous and large-scale commercial fishers. He has worked to develop and improve interdisciplinary methods in stock assessment and integrated ecosystem assessments, co-authored the US National Climate Assessment and received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). He studied economics and international relations at Stanford University and obtained a PhD in economics from the University of Washington where he is an Affiliate Professor.

Dr. Sheila Heymans is Executive Director of the European Marine Board (EMB) and Professor in Ecosystem Modelling at the Scottish Association for Marine Science and the University of the Highlands and Islands in Scotland. She sits on the External Advisory Board for various projects including MissionAtlantic, MarinePlan, and European Union Blue Cloud2026. She has 30 years’ experience in research on the environmental impacts of ecosystem change and has published >90 peer-reviewed publications. She has a background in ecosystem modelling approaches such as Ecopath with Ecosim and Ecological Network Analysis and has used and taught both techniques extensively since 1993. Recently her main science focus has been the social, economic and ecological impacts of fishing in the world’s oceans and the resilience of these ecosystems to fishing and environmental changes. In the early 2000s she worked at the Fisheries Centre of the University of British Columbia where she modelled the decline of Steller sea lions in Alaska. She was a lead author on the International Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) chapter: “Policy support tools and methodologies for scenario analysis and modelling of biodiversity and ecosystem services”. She is the editor of EMB Policy documents.

Dr. Rahanna Juman is the Deputy Director at the Institute of Marine Affairs, a government funded marine research institute in Trinidad and Tobago. She holds a PhD in Zoology (2004) from the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad and a Bachelor of Law (2015) from the University of London. She has been conducting research on coastal ecosystems including mangrove forests and seagrass beds for the past 25 years, and has published in international peer review journals, and has authored two books on coastal wetlands. She was a Hubert Humphrey fellow from 2010-2011, a Watson International Scholars of the Environment Fellow (2008), an American Fellow (2006) and a United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)/ L’OREAL Fellow (2002) and has done internships at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Organization (NOAA) in the United States. She chaired the Caribbean Sea Commission from 2021-2023 and is a member of the Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP) Working Group 41 on Ocean Interventions for Climate Change Mitigation. She has led efforts to develop and implement an Integrated Coastal Zone Management Policy Framework for Trinidad and Tobago and is leading efforts to implement Marine Spatial Planning.

Dr. Matthew McCandless is the Interim Vice President Operations and Business Transformation, as well as the Associate Vice President, Water and Managing Director of Manitoba at the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), and has also been the executive director of IISD Experimental Lakes Area (IISD-ELA) since its founding in April 2014.

At IISD-ELA, he leads a team of researchers who conduct whole-ecosystem experiments on lakes to determine the impact of human activity on our freshwater resources. Additionally, he manages operational activities, partnership building, fundraising, and revenue generation for the world's freshwater laboratory.

His research interests are primarily in the areas of hydrology, water quality and bioprocessing–often combining both policy and technical research. Since joining IISD in 2006, he has been involved in dozens of projects on water, agriculture and bio-industrial development in Canada, Africa (East, West, and Central), Asia (India and Bangladesh) and Latin America.

Prior to joining IISD, he worked in the private sector as a biosystems engineer on projects related to hydrology, bioenergy, water management in Canada and India. He has a PhD in biosystems engineering from the University of Manitoba, a Master of Natural Resources Management from the University of Manitoba and a Bachelor of Biological Engineering from Dalhousie University. He is a registered professional engineer.

Dr. John Reynolds is a Professor at Simon Fraser University, where he holds the Tom Buell British Columbia Leadership Chair in Salmon Conservation. His research focusses on ecology and conservation, with an emphasis on aquatic species, including salmon. He has held a wide variety of scientific advisory roles for governments and non-government organizations. He is the past Chair of the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife In Canada (COSEWIC). He has published 250 refereed papers, as well as five books on fisheries and conservation. His awards include the President’s Award for Societal Engagement from the Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution, the Murray Newman Award for Excellence in Research from the Vancouver Aquarium, the J.C. Stevenson Award from the Canadian Conference for Fisheries Research, and the Medal for Excellence in Fisheries from the Fisheries Society of the British Isles (FSBI). He was inducted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2020.

Dr. Guillaume St-Onge has been a professor at the Institut des sciences de la mer (ISMER) at the Université de Québec à Rimouski (UQAR) since 2004 and director of ISMER since 2020. ISMER is the largest Francophone university research institute in Canada. It brings together a significant critical mass of researchers and students dedicated to discovering and advancing knowledge of coastal and marine ecosystems from a climate change and sustainable development perspective.

Dr. St-Onge is currently involved in the creation of a blue economy innovation zone in Quebec, and was the first director of Réseau Québec maritime (RQM), the RQM’s Odyssée Saint-Laurent research program and the Institut France-Québec Maritime (IFQM). In addition to helping establish and advance these intersectoral unifying initiatives from 2016 to 2020, he holds the Tier I Canada Research Chair in Marine Geology. He has led or participated in numerous field and seagoing expeditions in both hemispheres, and his research focuses on natural hazards and climate change at various time scales. The quality of his research and training work has been recognized by several awards. Lastly, he chairs the board of Reformar, an organization that manages the Coriolis II, Lampsilis and Louis-Edmond-Hamelin research vessels for the Canadian scientific community, and sits on the boards and advisory committees of several marine science and research organizations at provincial, national and international levels.

Dr. Francisco “Cisco” Werner is Director of Scientific Programs and Chief Science Advisor of the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service. He leads NOAA Fisheries' efforts to provide the science needed to support sustainable fisheries and ecosystems and to continue the progress in ending overfishing, rebuilding fish populations, saving critical species, and preserving vital habitats. He oversees NOAA's six Fisheries Science Centers, labs and associated field stations, and the Office of Science and Technology. His research has focused on developing numerical models of ocean circulation and marine ecosystems, and the effects of physical forcing on the structure, function and abundance of commercially and ecologically important species. He has also contributed to the development and implementation of ocean forecasting systems. Prior to joining NOAA, he held academic appointments as Director and Professor of Rutgers University’s Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, and Professor and Chairman of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Department of Marine Sciences. He served as Chair of the Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics (GLOBEC) Program’s Scientific Steering Committee and co-Editor in Chief of Progress in Oceanography. He has a BSc in Mathematics and PhD in Oceanography, both from the University of Washington.

Dr. Paul Snelgrove is a University Research Professor of Ocean Sciences and Biology at Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada. From 2008-2021 he led the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Canadian Healthy Oceans Network, a national research network that developed new tools and approaches to support sustainable oceans. He currently serves as Associate Scientific Director of The Ocean Frontier Institute, which gathers researchers in Atlantic Canada and beyond to advance safe and sustainable ocean objectives. From 2003-2013, he held a Canada Research Chair in Boreal and Cold Ocean Systems, following from an NSERC Industrial Chair in Fisheries Conservation. He led the synthesis of the International Census of Marine Life program, and was a member of the program’s Scientific Steering Committee. His TED Global talk on that program has almost 375,000 views. He frequently participates in workshops and conferences around the world as an invited speaker. In 2013, he was awarded the Timothy Parsons Medal for Excellence in Marine Sciences in Canada, and in 2020 was appointed Departmental Science Advisor to Fisheries and Oceans Canada. He has published ~150 journal articles, 30 book chapters and 2 books on his research on sustaining marine biodiversity and functioning in seafloor ecosystems in all three of Canada’s oceans.