Keynote Speakers

Professor Frithjof C. Küpper

University of Aberdeen

Professor Frithjof C. Küpper, Chair in Marine Biodiversity at the University of Aberdeen (Oceanlab), has previously held a readership (2009-2011) / lectureship (2003-2009) and the position of Head of the Culture Collection of Algae and Protozoa (CCAP) at the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) from 2003-2008. He has also been a visiting assistant professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara (2004 – 2013) and an adjunct professor at San Diego State University (2013-present). Over the past 35 years, Frithjof has studied the biodiversity, inorganic biochemistry, chemical ecology, and physiology of aquatic and marine plants/algae, especially in the context of biotic / abiotic stress and biogeochemical cycles (156 ISI-listed, peer-reviewed papers, > 7,100 citations, h = 43; 5 book chapters) and in the polar and sub-polar regions of the world. He has worked extensively on marine biodiversity- and ecology-related subjects in the Arctic, Antarctic, Subantarctic, Mediterranean and the Arabian Gulf, often employing scientific diving and intertidal sampling as a research tool. This also includes marine environmental surveys at the Prinos Oil Field in the Gulf of Kavala and at seawater desalination plants in Cyprus and Kuwait, seasonal surveys of the seaweed vegetation of the Ythan Estuary in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, but also 2 expeditions to the Canadian Arctic and 2 expeditions to Antarctica. His research interest in algal halogen metabolism, pathologies and defence reactions arose during his graduate studies for a joint French-German Ph.D. (1998-2001). His work has resulted in the finding of iodide serving the role of an inorganic antioxidant in kelp, the first described from a living system, with implications for atmospheric and marine chemistry (PNAS 105(19), 6954-8). This work was selected as one of the 100 Science Stories of the Year 2008 by DISCOVER Magazine and received substantial media coverage.- Frithjof is also a certified scientific professional diver (AAUS in the USA and HSE Scuba IV in the UK) and has conducted diving-based expeditions throughout the world for biodiversity-related aspects of his research, including the Canadian Arctic, the Eastern Mediterranean (especially Greece and Cyprus), Kuwait, French Polynesia, Malaysia, California, Antarctica, Ascension Island and the Falkland Islands.

Dr. George Mantas

AquaBioTech Group

George is the Business Development Director of AquaBioTech Group a specialised aquaculture consulting company. George leads the marketing and development activities of the company, and the market research and intelligence assignments. In the past few years, he has carried out several commercial assignments for the development of the aquaculture sector in Oman, in Saudi Arabia, in Africa and Middle East on behalf of sovereign wealth funds and private investment firms. He also leads all commercialisation and exploitation activities, and he provides commercial advice, feasibility assessment and business plan development in R&I projects. Most recently George led the commercialisation activities of BYTHOS 1(Biotechnologies for Human Health and Blue Growth) Italy – Malta project, setting up a business space that will unlock blue biotechnology sector in Malta and Italy; the business planning of multi-use of space and multi-use of platforms aquaculture related projects within the MARIBE 2 and carried out a thorough market analysis for the mariculture development of Jamaica and the business plan for their marine aquaculture centre a project funded by World Bank. George has an extensive network of aquaculture managers across Europe and throughout the supply chain and a very good understanding of the current markets and needs. He is an experienced user of various data platforms including but not limited to FishStatJ (FAO), International Trade Centre, Eurostat, EUMOFA. George has 17 years of experience in executive roles in the private sector of aquaculture and the seafood industry, seafood value chain and marketing.

AquaBioTech Group is an international company strategically located in the center of the Mediterranean on the island of Malta, although operating globally with clients and projects in over fifty-five countries. AquaBioTech Group undertakes a variety of aquaculture, fisheries, and aquatic environmental projects through its regional offices and selected partners throughout the world. The vast majority of the company’s work is related to the marine or aquatic environment, encompassing aquaculture developments, market research/intelligence, project feasibility assessments, finance acquisition, project management, technology sourcing, and technical support and training.

Dr. Daniel Hayes 

Cyprus SubSea Consulting and Services C.S.C.S. Limited

Daniel Hayes, Ph. D., is Managing Director of Cyprus Subsea Consulting and Services (CSCS) since it was founded in 2012. After his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Oceanography from the University of Washington in 2003, he held a post as Physical Oceanographer at the British Antarctic Survey before beginning work at the University of Cyprus as a physical oceanographer at the Oceanography Center in 2004. He has participated in several national projects on ocean observations and modelling and was the coordinator of a national infrastructure project to set up and operate an ocean glider facility to study the seas of Cyprus using underwater gliders. He has led work packages in an EU FP7 project: GROOM and the U.S. Office of Naval Research project: CINEL. He specializes in the analysis of data collected by ships, buoys and autonomous vehicles to investigate small and mesoscale physical exchange processes. He has been working on the development of the real time observing and forecasting system for the Cyprus region, including collection and analysis of data and development of numerical circulation models including the assimilation of in situ glider data. He has organized the European Gliding Observatories (EGO) meeting and serves on the steering committee. At CSCS, he has led the drafting and implementation of the H2020 project, BRIDGES (Bringing together Research and Industry in the Development of Glider Environmental Services), by being a WP leader and executive committee member; Dr. Hayes also successfully managed the SMART Cable Project (ENTERPRISES/0916/0066) as the project coordinator; STEAM Project (INTEGRATED/0916/0063) as a work package leader, MARI-Sense Project (INTEGRATED/0918/0032) as a work package leader; OS Aqua Project (INTEGRATED/0918/0046) as a work package leader; and TechOceanS Project (HORIZON2020/101000858) as a task leader. Other work at CSCS consists of environmental modelling and data collection and analysis for baseline and environmental impact assessments, both for coastal and off shore commercial and regulatory stakeholders. In the last few years under his direction, CSCS has become an established dealer and service provider in advanced marine technology, in particular underwater gliders and related services.

Dr. Athena Trakadas

Ocean Decade Heritage Network / University of Copenhagen

Athena Trakadas is a maritime archaeologist focusing on coastal landscapes related to riverine harbours and marine resource exploitation, as well as natural-cultural heritage management. She currently directs research projects in Montenegro and Morocco, where she has worked for over two decades, and field directs a project in Italy; she has conducted archaeological fieldwork in Iran, Abu Dhabi, Egypt, Israel, Turkey, Greece, Germany and Denmark. She is Co-founder and Chair of the UN Ocean Decade-partner Ocean Decade Heritage Network, Editor of the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, Curator at the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, Denmark, and Visiting Associate Professor at the Saxo Institute, University of Copenhagen. Athena serves on the Executive Board of the Advisory Council on Underwater Archaeology, the Advisory Board of the Koç University Mustafa V. Koç Maritime Archaeology Research Center (Türkiye), and is an Expert Consultant appointed to the UNESCO 2001 Convention on the Protection on the Underwater Cultural Heritage and its Scientific and Technical Advisory Board.

Professor Michelle Portman

Technion – Israel Institute of Technology

Dr. Portman graduated the University of California Berkeley with a B.Sc. in Political Economy of Natural Resources, the Technion with a M.Sc. in Urban and Regional Planning (’91) and UMass Boston with a doctorate in Public Policy (’07). She held a two-year postdoctoral fellowship position (2007-09) at the Marine Policy Center, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution located in Cape Cod, USA. Currently her research focuses on coastal zone management, marine spatial planning, management of marine protected areas, marine litter from land-based sources, water sensitive planning and governance of the land-sea interface. She heads the MarCoast Ecosystems Integration Lab and authored Environmental Planning for Oceans and Coasts: Tools, Methods and Technologies (Springer, 2016), as well as wrote or co-wrote over 60 journal articles. Prior to her academic experience Dr. Portman held leading positions in public sector environmental agencies and organizations for over 15 years. She is currently a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Kiel Marine Sciences, a leading academic research program of Christian Albrechts University of Germany and she serves on the Board of Directors of Mei-Carmel – the Haifa Water Authority.