In this edition of the ECOP Wednesdays event series, hosted by the EMB Young Ambassadors and the EMB Secretariat for the EMB ECOP network, outgoing Ambassadors Juliette Aminian Biquet and Alfredo Garcia de Vinuesa spoke about "Improving ECOPs' training, connection and representativity: Outcomes from the EMB ECOP Forum in Santiago".
EMB Alumni Alfredo Garcia de Vinuesa Gutierrez and Juliette Aminian Biquet presented the outcomes of the first Forum of the EMB ECOP Network. With this Forum, the EMB wanted to the turn the network into reality, by providing a space for ECOPs to network, as well as to learn about the European marine science-policy landscape and how to concretely engage with this space as a scientist. During this Forum, ECOPs were invited to share how they engage in the science-policy interface, and how we can improve ECOPs' involvement in these spaces. Alfredo and Juliette presented the main challenges, how to overcome them, and some concrete tips for ECOPs to connect with policy-making.
Juliette is a researcher in ecology and conservation sciences, with broad interests for all natural sciences, socio-ecosystems functioning and protection. She has been involved in various projects, notably on the impact of fisheries, evolutionary consequences of climate change, our perception of nature, or population monitoring in several ecosystems. She is involved in scientific mediation about biodiversity. Juliette is now specializing in marine ecology, as a PhD student at the Centro de Ciências do Mar, thanks to a scholarship from FCT, a Portuguese EMB Member. She is studying marine protected areas in the European Union, describing the protection they were designed to deliver, and investigating the underlying reasons that led to these levels of protection, from the EU to the national scale, including the influence of individuals in these processes. She hopes her work can help to improve the socio-ecological benefits of the EU spatial protection. She was an EMB Ambassador from April 2022 - March 2024.
Alfredo grew up in Extremadura, Spain, away from the sea. However, he always showed an enormous interest and curiosity in the marine world. Alfredo obtained a BSc in Marine Science in 2010 from the University of Cádiz, and just after, he moved to work in the Barcelona Institute of Marine Science (ICM-CSIC). From there, he completed his studies with an MSc in Biodiversity and a PhD in Marine Science, both granted by the University of Barcelona. During his PhD, Alfredo focused his research toward the study of trawling impacts over especially vulnerable Mediterranean marine ecosystems to improve their management, working very close with stakeholders like fishermen’s, NGOs and policy makers. Since then, Alfredo has been a great defender of participative management. He has now returned to Cádiz, where he is currently a Postdoc at the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO-CSIC) working together with stakeholders, and trying to improve current Guadalquivir Estuary management through participative processes. He was an EMB Ambassador from April 2022 - March 2024.
You can re-watch the presentation here and find the presentation slides here.
For any questions, please send an email to info@marineboard.eu.