Marina is an expert of ocean forecasting working at Mercator Ocean International. She is exploiting her consolidated experience in operational oceanography for contributing to the development of the digital twins of the oceans. She is coordinating the forecasting component of the European Copernicus Marine Service and is contributing to the development of the infrastructure of the European digital twin of the ocean. She developed and led the Mediterranean Sea forecasting system while working in Italy and the North West-European shelf sea when working for the UK Met Office.  

She has been a member of several international frameworks related to operational oceanography, extending her knowledge beyond the systems she has developed and led. 

Evangelia Tzika is a policy officer in the Directorate-General of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE). She has been coordinating marine/maritime research and innovation in DG MARE under Horizon Europe programme, also as part of the Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters secretariat. Previously she has been engaged in planning and sustainable development activities. Her background is on planning and regional development with a master degree on maritime spatial planning.

Henry Vallius is a marine geologist with a Ph.D. in geochemistry of Baltic Sea sediments and works as senior scientist at the Geological Survey of Finland. He has over 30 years of experience in marine science from research cruises in the Baltic Sea as well as the Atlantic Ocean. He acts as the coordinator of the EU funded EMODnet Geology project, which deals with collection, harmonization, and publication of marine data products from European seas and beyond. He also has a position as adjunct professor in marine geology and marine geochemistry at Åbo Akademi University, Finland.