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Professor Dr. Pierre Failler <br> University of Portsmouth, UK

Professor Dr. Pierre Failler
University of Portsmouth, UK

Short Bio
Dr. Nimit Kumar <br>Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), India

Dr. Nimit Kumar
Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), India

Short Bio
Professor Dr. Heather Koldewey <br> Zoological Society of London and Exeter University, UK

Professor Dr. Heather Koldewey
Zoological Society of London and Exeter University, UK

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Dr. Lilian A. Krug <br> Partnership for Observation of the Global Ocean and The Algarve Centre of Marine Sciences, University of Algarve, Portugal

Dr. Lilian A. Krug
Partnership for Observation of the Global Ocean and The Algarve Centre of Marine Sciences, University of Algarve, Portugal

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Dr Myriam Lacharité <br> Senior Lecturer, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Australia

Dr Myriam Lacharité
Senior Lecturer, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Australia

Dr. Chris Simpson <br> Ningaloo Coast World Heritage Advisory Committee, Australia

Dr. Chris Simpson
Ningaloo Coast World Heritage Advisory Committee, Australia

Short Bio
Dr. A. P. Dinesh Babu<br> Principal Scientist & HoD, ICAR-CMFRI, India

Dr. A. P. Dinesh Babu
Principal Scientist & HoD, ICAR-CMFRI, India

Prof. Failler is the Director of the Centre for Blue Governance. He holds the UNESCO Chair in Ocean Governance. He works in Bangladesh since 2016 with government and academic institutions on the blue economy policy implementation. He coordinates complex research projects with multidisciplinary teams for more than 25 years in Europe, North America, Africa, Asia, Caribbean, and Pacific coastal countries in collaboration with national research institutions and universities and a close link with policy bodies. He has recently coordinated the Blue Economy Strategy for the African Union, the Regional Action Plan for the Blue Economy of the Indian Ocean Commission, the Blue Economy Strategy of IGAD, SADC, ASEAN as well as the Blue Economy Strategy and Action Plan for Bangladesh, Seychelles, Guinea, The Bahamas, St Martin, Jamacia, Madagascar, Tanzania and Ethiopia. He has authored and co-authored numerous journal articles, book chapters, research reports, consultancy reports, etc. He is also a Scientific evaluator for several research councils in UK, Europe, North America, Africa, and Asia.
 
Dr. Nimit Kumar is a Marine Ecologist who serves as a scientist at INCOIS since 2011. He has been formally associated with the Marine Fishery Advisory Services (MFAS) program of INCOIS – during which he carried out R&D related to Potential Fishing Zones and Mariculture Site Suitability along with Maritime Use Conflicts with an aim to help future blue economy endeavors. He graduated with Microbiology as major and has another post-graduation in Disaster Mitigation. His core strengths comprise of ocean observations, telemetry, remote sensing and GIS. He is alumni of NF-POGO, PORSEC, BOBLME, and IOC-WESTPAC’s MOMSEI. He has participated multiple research cruises in the North Atlantic Ocean and North Indian Ocean onboard Indian and foreign vessels. His professional interests include conservation, sustainable development, outreach and capacity building. He has been contributing to ITCOocean since it’s beginning in 2013 and now serves more dedicatedly to it along with INCOIS’s international interface.
 
Heather has worked at the Zoological Society of London since 1995 as a postdoctoral research scientist, curator of London Zoo Aquarium, Head of Marine and Freshwater, and now as Lead for the Bertarelli Foundation’s Marine Science Programme. She is also an Honorary Professor at the University of Exeter Penryn campus, a National Geographic Explorer and on the Board of the Marine Biological Association, Surfers Against Sewage and Coast-4C. She focuses on marine conservation solutions, from co-founding Project Seahorse in 1996, to building the net recycling and seaweed farming social enterprise COAST-4C in 2021. Since 2017, Heather has led the Bertarelli Foundation’s Indian Ocean Marine Science Programme, including leading several ship-based expeditions. This programme is a UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development endorsed Action with a strong focus on regional capacity building.
Dr Lilian Krug is a Luso-Brazilian oceanographer specialised in observational oceanography with applications to ocean-atmosphere interaction, climate variability and their impacts on ocean and coastal ecosystems. Lilian has been dedicated to building capacity in ocean observations as the Scientific Coordinator for the Partnership for Observation of the Global Ocean (POGO) and its alumni network, and by teaching international graduate students and early career researchers from developing nations, in both Portuguese and English.
After undertaking the first detailed study of coral reefs in north-west Australia for his PhD in the early to mid-1980s, Chris spent the next decade researching different aspects of coral ecology, focussing on the life history of corals and the autumn coral mass spawning at different locations along the tropical and sub-tropical coast of Western Australia.
This was followed by Chris’ involvement in leading several large, multi-disciplinary ecological studies in both the tropical and temperate coastal waters of Western Australia (WA).
In 1996, Chris established and led a team, within WA’s Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM), whose job was to plan, establish and develop management frameworks for a statewide system of multiple-use marine protected areas (MPAS) along WA’s 12,000 km coastline. This system of MPAs is now almost entirely in place and is part of the Australia’s National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas (NRSMPA). The NRSMPA is being established by the National Government and Australian States and the Northern Territory. The NRSMPA is also a major plank of Australia’s Oceans Policy.
In 2006, Chris was appointed to establish and lead the newly-formed Marine Science Program (MSP) in the Science Division of CALM. The MSP’s primary role was to provide the scientific knowledge needed to effectively manage the developing Statewide system of MPAs. This was done partly by in-house research scientists but primarily by aligning Australia’s national marine research organisations in WA, such as the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and the Australian Institute of Marine Science, and local universities to undertake research that would underpin MPA management in WA. This was achieved by seeking seed funding from the State Government which was then used to attract co-investment in marine research and monitoring by these organisations. This approach was very successful, and the multiplier effect was often more than 10 times.
An example was the initial State Government grant of $5M for Ningaloo Marine Park in 2006 (Ningaloo Research Program) which has resulted in almost two decades of continuous research, now valued conservatively at approximately $100M.
So, after being involved in marine science and conservation for forty years, Chris is now officially retired and maintains his interest by involvement in activities like this workshop and the Ningaloo Coast World Heritage Advisory Committee of which he is a member.