Dr.  Martin Dieterich (University of Hohenheim/ILN Singen, Germany)

Martin is a lecturer at the University of Hohenheim and Director of the Institute of Landscape Ecology and Nature Conservation (ILN Singen), an applied research facility closely cooperating with NGOs. Main research interests in strategies and adaptations to cope with disturbance (desiccating streams and ponds), and conservation issues relating to cultural landscapes (management of grasslands). Martin strongly advocates the need for conservation scientists to be involved with management and policy issues. He is president elect of the European Section of the Society for Conservation Biology.  

Dr. Vassiliki Kati (University of Ioannina, Greece)

Kiki (Ph.D. Université Cathollique de Louvain, Belgium) is a lecturer of Biodiversity Conservation in the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources Management at the University of Ioannina, Greece. Her teaching interests include biodiversity conservation, wildlife and protected areas management, while she teaches also in a postgraduate course regarding national parks. She studies the biodiversity of Greek mountains and she focuses on reserve design, biodiversity indicators as well as conservation management of several animal groups, such as insects, herpetofauna and birds. She is interested also recently on the effect of climate change on biodiversity patterns. Kiki believes that in our biodiversity crisis era we do not have the luxury to do science without implementation and vice versa. She also argues that local conservation experience should inform global decision and vice versa. In this context, she is active in the envionmental policy arena, writing articles for newspapers, being an active member of several NGOs at local and national scale, member of the Policy Committee of SCB-Europe, and member of EU expert committe on biodiversity and climate change. Kiki was member of the the Board of Directors of the SCB-ES and chair of Education Committee of SCB-ES for the period 2008-2010.

Dr. Dario Massimino (University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy)

Dario is a postdoctoral research associate in the University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy. His researches are aimed to improve the knowledge base for environmental management and biodiversity conservation. Research interests include habitat suitability models, indicator species selection and use, effects of forest management on birds, population trend analysis, and tropical forest bird communities. His current project is to assess the functionality of protected area networks with the use of genetic markers. Dario also worked as environmental educator for children and youth in the Italian Alps.

Dr. Andrew Ramsey (University of Cumbria, U.K.)

After graduating with an honours degree in Zoology Andrew taught at field studies centre for two years before returning to study for his Master's degree and PhD. He lectured in York for five years before joining the University of Central Lancashire in 2001 and then the University of Cumbria in 2007. Andrew has responsibilities for managing and developing the work of the Centre for Wildlife Conservation in Cumbria. His teaching interests include biodiversity, conservation strategies, research methods and aquatic conservation. His research interests include the development of conservation strategies in agricultural and other cultural ecosystems, reintroduction issues and freshwater conservation. He currently supervises six PhD students looking at conservation strategies in oil palm plantations, conservation of freshwater pearl mussels, landscape ecology of butterflies and squirrels and scent marking in a range of mammalian species. Andrew is a fellow of the Zoological Society of London and an active member of the Society for Conservation Biology and Butterfly Conservation.

Dr. Panayotis Dimopoulos (University of Ioannina, Greece)

Panayotis Dimopoulos is Biologist and holds a PhD from the Section of Plant Biology, Faculty of Biology of the University of Patras (Greece) on Mediterranean Mountain Flora, Vegetation and Ecology. He is currently Professor in Botany and Ecology, at the Faculty of Environmental and Natural Resource Management of the University of Ioannina. His research focuses on vegetation ecology of mountainous areas, on overviews of vegetation of various types of ecosystems and more specifically in plant diversity, community analysis, monitoring and assessment of natural habitat types and species in protected areas, as well as on assessment of riparian zones applying as biological indicators plants. He has participated in 25 national and 5 European research programmes in 19 of which as principal investigator and or scientific coordinator. He has published 61 articles in International Scientific journals, 80 Announcements in International and Hellenic Congresses, 10 scientific books and 13 articles-chapters in books. He has served as President of the National Park of Northern Pindos for 3 years (2003-2006) and currently is the President of the Hellenic Botanical Society (2007-2010), member of the council of the Hellenic Ecological Society, as well as Director of the Master Thesis Programme entitled: “Sustainable Conservation Management of Protected Areas” (2003-2009) and Dean of the Faculty (2006-2010).

Dr Gabor Lovei (Aarhus University, Denmark)

Gabor Lovei is Ecologist, entomologist. He is born and educated in Hungary, he has been working in the field of ecology, ornithology, and entomology in several European countries, China, New Zealand, and Africa. Currently a Senior Scientist at Aarhus University, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Denmark. His scientific activity includes research in biodiversity on cultivated land, environmental biosafety of transgenic plants, invasion ecology, biological control of arthropod pests, bird migration, tropical ecology and scientific communication. Author of >100 peer-reviewed papers, editor of 6 books; member of several national and international scientific societies, journal editorial boards, organiser of 13 international conferences, and workshops; member of EFSA expert panel on plant health, and the Board of Directors of Society of Conservation Biology, Europe Section. Founding Director of the Training Center in Communication, Nairobi, Kenya, with long teaching experience in the area of scientific writing and communication.