Pulse of the planet webinar series

Sean Hoban

The Morton Arboretum, USA

Dr. Sean Hoban is a conservation biologist at The Morton Arboretum, a botanical garden near Chicago, USA. His work focuses on monitoring genetic diversity, improving the conservation of biodiversity in botanical gardens and seed banks, and interfacing with science and policy. He co-leads the GEO BON Genetic Composition Working Group and co-founded the Coalition for Conservation Genetics.

Linda Laikre

Stockholm University, Sweden

Dr. Linda Laikre is a professor of population and conservation genetics at Stockholm University, Sweden. She has specialized in different aspects of monitoring of genetic diversity and is a member of Sweden’s scientific expert group that provides advice to the CBD delegation.

Jessica da Silva

South Africa National Biodiversity Institute, South Africa

Dr. Jessica da Silva is a postdoctoral researcher at the South African National Biodiversity Institute in Cape Town. Her main fields of research include population and conservation genetics – applying molecular techniques to address conservation issues in South Africa. For the past five years that has included genetic monitoring of threatened species, namely reptiles and amphibians. Additionally, she has become increasingly involved in national biodiversity reporting, as that pertains to genetic diversity.

Alicia Mastretta-Yanes

Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad, Mexico

Dr. Alicia Mastretta-Yanes is an evolutionary biologist and population geneticist. She is currently a CONACYT research fellow at CONABIO, where she aims to incorporate evolutionary processes into the conservation and management of Mexican biodiversity.

David O’Brien

NatureScot, Scotland

David O’Brien manages the Evidence and Reporting, and Terrestrial Vascular Plant teams for NatureScot, the government agency responsible for nature conservation in Scotland. His work includes conservation of wild plants, and development and production of indicators such as Ecosystem Health Indicators and Convention on Biological Diversity reports. His main interests are conservation of genetic diversity, urban biodiversity and evidence-based conservation.

Per Sjögren-Gulve

Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, Sweden

Per Sjögren-Gulve did his PhD in Animal Ecology in the 1980s, became Associate Professor in Conservation Biology in the 1990s, and has been Principal Research Officer at the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency for 25 years. He is a specialist in population modeling, Population Viability Analyses and Science-Society Interfacing.

Eva Spehn

Swiss Biodiversity Forum, Switzerland

Eva is a plant ecologist by training and a member of the Global Mountain Biodiversity Assessment SC. She works on the science-policy interface of biodiversity with the Swiss Biodiversity Forum at the Academy of Sciences in Switzerland and is in charge of the international linkages, such as IPBES, CBD and Future Earth. She coordinates the Swiss IPBES platform, links with Future Earth, GEO BON and others, and supports the Swiss delegation for CBD negotiations.

Davnah Urbach

Global Mountain Biodiversity Assessment, Bern University, Switzerland

Davnah, an evolutionary biologist by training, has been working for the Global Mountain Biodiversity Assessment (a Future Earth Core Project) since 2016, first as a science officer and now as the program’s executive director. In her position at the international project office of GMBA, she supports and coordinates a large portfolio of initiatives and collaborations on the assessment, conservation, and sustainable management of mountain biodiversity, including the mobilization of mountain biodiversity data and the development of policy-relevant mountain biodiversity indicators.

Walter Jetz

Yale University, USA

Walter directs the Center for Biodiversity and Global Change at Yale University. He was Chair of the IPBES Task Group for Indicators, part of its Task Force for Data and Knowledge and Lead Author of the IPBES Global Assessment. He is co-Lead of the GEO BON Species Populations Working Group and Steering Committee member of the Future Earth Natural Assets Network.

María Cecilia Londoño

Humboldt Institute, Bogota, Colombia

María Cecilia is a senior researcher in the Biodiversity Assessment and Monitoring Program at Instituto Humboldt in Colombia and co-Chair of GEO BON. María Cecilia’s main experience is on the use of biodiversity geographic analysis for decision making, works on the production of biodiversity indicators for multiple users and on the development of web platforms for biodiversity data dissemination. María Cecilia coordinates and performs research that contributes to implement the knowledge to action cycle related to specific problems in the context of biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.

Jillian Campbell

Convention on Biological Diversity Secretariat, Montreal, Canada

Jillian is Head of Monitoring, Review and Reporting at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. She is responsible for monitoring of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, including national action planning. Prior to this position she led the methodological work on the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicators under UN Environment Programme (UNEP) custodianship and coordinated UNEP’s work on environment statistics capacity building.

Melodie McGeoch

La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia

Melodie completed her PhD in South Africa, worked at the Universities of Pretoria and Stellenbosch and with South African National Parks before moving to Australia. Melodie’s research focuses on the ecology and conservation of populations and communities. She is the co-Lead of the GEO BON Species Populations Working Group, Coordinating Lead Author of the IPBES Assessment on Invasive Alien Species and their Control, and Lead of Biodiversity Status and Trends, in the Strategic Research Initiative – Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future.

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