Prof. Dr. Herman Hummel works at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ).
He is coordinator of the Monitor Taskforce at NIOZ, and professor in Estuarine Ecophysiology at the University of Gdansk, Poland. He studies the genetics and ecophysiology of estuarine benthos. He was the Executive Director of MarBEF and is President of the MARS Network, uniting the marine research stations of Europe. He was general coordinator and participant of several projects to implement large-scale long-term marine biodiversity research in Europe.
Dr. Georg Umgiesser is Senior Scientist at the Institute of Marine Sciences in Venice (National Research Council of Italy).
He graduated in Oceanography and Physics at the University of Hamburg and obtained his PhD in Environmental Sciences at the University of Klaipeda. He has been visiting professor at the University of Fukuoka, Japan. Currently he has also an associated lead scientist position at the University of Klaipeda, Lithuania.
His main area of interest is the study of lagoons and other shallow water bodies through the development and application of numerical models, mainly in the field of hydrodynamics and sediment transport, working throughout the European and Mediterranean geography, citing as example the Venice Lagoon, the Sea of Taranto or the Cabras Lagoon, in Italy, or the Curonian Lagoon in Lithuania.
Dr. Oum Kalthoum Ben Hassine is Full Professor of Biology at the University of Tunis, and founder and director of the Research Unit of Biology, Ecology and Parasitology of Aquatic Organisms.
To date, she is author or co-author of more than 230 scientific publications (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Oum_Kalthoum_Ben_Hassine/contributions)
Member of a large number of prestigious Scientific Organizations (Corresponding Member of the European Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters, Member of the Scientific Council of the International Foundation Sharing Knowledge), she has received numerous awards in her field of work («Emeritus Honor Diploma» of the European Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters in 2013; 12 prizes awarded to supervised research works (5 national and 7 international) ; Holder of Order of Merit in Education and Sciences, in 2000 and 2008; Holder of the Certificate of Appreciation for Exceptional Voluntary Service (GEF, United Nations) in 2001).