Fani Sakellariadou, Prof. of Geochemical Oceanography, Dept of Maritime Studies, at Piraeus University, Director of the Oceanography & Marine Geochemistry Lab and Director of the M.Sc. course “Sustainable Blue Economy”. She holds a Ph.D. in marine geochemistry (Royal School of Mines, Imperial College, U.K.), an M.Phil. in Oceanography (NKUA, Gr.), a D.I.C. in Organic Synthesis (IC, UK), and a B.Sc. in Chemistry (NKUA, Gr.). She served as the Head of the Maritime Studies Dept (4yrs) and a Member of the Senate Board. She also served as a national expert in EEC (CORINAIR expert group, 14yrs), as Visiting Researcher at the Dept of Mech.& Mar Sci, Chalmers Univ. and the Dip. Biologia e Chimica Agroforestale e Ambientale, Universita di Bari. She has worked as a marine geochemist at Hydrex, HCMR, and NTUA. She has also served as a Titular member and Project Coordinator at the Div VI, IUPAC (8yrs) and was elected as Vice President, Div VI, IUPAC (2024-25) and President (2026-27).
Gabrielle J. Stockmann , Geochemist, PhD Research career in Iceland, Greenland and Sweden working on fluid-rock interactions in relation to 1) CO2 sequestration though carbonate mineralization, 2) how crustal stress affects groundwater chemistry prior to earthquakes in Northern Iceland, 3) geochemical studies of submarine ikaite tufa columns in Southwest Greenland and their link to alkaline igneous rocks, and 4) how REE are mobilized by hydrothermal fluids in these alkaline rocks.
Michael J. Scoullos, Prof. Emeritus of Environmental Chemistry and Oceanography. Currently, Director of the «UNESCO Chair and Network on Sustainable Development Management and Education at the Mediterranean» (of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA). Founder and Chairman (1991 – today) of the Mediterranean Information Office for Environment, Culture and Sustainable Development (MIO-ECSDE), which is the major environmental NGO platform of the Mediterranean region. Coordinator of the MEdIES Network (6500 educators on ESD). Chairman of the Global Water Partnership-Mediterranean. Researcher and author of a very large number of impactful scientific articles, books and studies (~7000 citations). He has organized and/or Chaired an impressive number of important International Conferences. Representative of the European Parliament for 25 years in the Board of the EEA. For his entire work, he received the Athens Academy Award. Awarded with the Gold Metal of the City of Paris; Commander of the National Order of Cedars of Lebanon; has achieved many other important distinctions.
Dr Aleksandra Tubić, full professor at the University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Sciences. The focus of her scientific research is behaviour of microplastic in the environment. She has been intensively worked on the investigation of the plastic waste and microplastic pollution impact and its interactions with organic pollutants across diverse environmental mediums. Currently, she is the leader of Serbian team in two projects under the HORIZON EUROPE program and holds the position of Vice Chair of the COST action PRIORITY. Beyond her academic endeavours, she is actively involved in the work of the International Water Association (IWA Groundwater Management Group). Her scholarly contributions extend to over 200 publications, including 70 papers featured in SCIe journals (h-index 20). Furthermore, she is deeply committed to fostering knowledge exchange between academia, industry, and policy makers in the realm of environmental protection.
Dr. Christos Tsabaris is a Research Director of the Institute of Oceanography at HCMR, since 2000. Dr. Tsabaris earned his doctoral degree in Nuclear Physics from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), in collaboration with the Institute for Reference Material and Measurements (IRMM-JRC), Belgium. He developed underwater in-situ gamma-ray spectrometers and set-up a marine radioactivity lab at HCMR which got an operational license from the Greek Atomic Energy Commission as well as at the ALMERA network of IAEA. Dr. Tsabaris has over 120 publications in international journals and conferences, 80 of which peer-reviewed and has participated in 37 projects either as HCMR coordinator or principal investigator. He coordinated for HCMR an ERASMUS+ project he starts coordinating for HCMR new EU projects (UnderSec and Contrast). Recently, Dr. Christos Tsabaris was consecutively listed as the “World’s Top 2% Scientists” by Stanford University in the United States in 2023.
Heileen (Helen) Hsu-Kim is a Professor of Environmental Engineering at Duke University, where she has been a member of the faculty since 2005. Prior to joining Duke, Dr. Hsu-Kim completed her B.S. degree in Environmental Engineering at MIT, and M.S./Ph.D. degrees in Environmental Engineering at UC-Berkeley. Dr. Hsu-Kim’s expertise area is aquatic geochemistry and trace element biogeochemistry. Her research aims to 1) Understand the biogeochemical processes controlling the bioavailability of elements and their distribution in the environment; 2) Evaluate exposures of toxic metals and other chemicals to humans and biological targets; and 3) Develop technologies to enable waste remediation and resource recovery.
Jane Entwistle, Prof of Environmental Geochemistry and Health at Northumbria University in the UK and a Fellow of the Society for Environmental Geochemistry and Health. Following posts as Faculty research lead (2018-2021) and Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor for Education (2022-2024), she is currently interim Pro-Vice Chancellor for the Faculty of Engineering and Environment. Her research is interdisciplinary and supports evidence-informed policy-making in human exposure science. She is currently PI on In2Air (NIHR, 2024-2027) working in partnership with the local authority to investigate the impact of making homes more energy efficient on the health and wellbeing of residents. In 2025, as lead project partner on the UKRI cross research council funded ECLIPS project, she launched the ‘Lead Safe Futures’ study to improve the way we monitor and test for elevated lead levels in children. She is also co-founder of DustSafe and the NERC-funded Home Biome project, a research initiative to obtain baseline data on chemicals and microbial communities in regular households via a global community science-academic partnership.
Bjorn Bertoft, Communicator and writer with a mission to work for the generations to come – meaning only with global ideas, projects, and clients carrying a built-in dedication to do good for humanity and planet Earth – in line with the UN Agenda 2030. Internationally recognized for more than 30 years for his expertise in market communication and concept development. Operating in the field of creative communication, education, and branding. And sailing. Founder and skipper for climate statement sailing project 100% Sun Wind Water (100sunwindwater.com) endorsed by the UN Clean Seas Program. Communication director for Sailing4Science (sailing4science.org) and SY Hrimfare (hrimfare.com), endorsed by the UN Ocean Decade 2021-2030 program. Recent projects: etpurus.com, nonviolence.com, thelawfornature.earth, pureforsure.com.