Anu Kaskela (PhD) works as a senior scientist at the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK). She has about 20 years of work experience as a marine geologist and has been involved in several national and international projects studying seafloor geological environment & geodiversity, seabed habitat mapping, harmonisation of marine data and marine spatial planning. She has been involved in EMODnet Geology, which brings together harmonised marine geological data, since 2009 and is currently project’s deputy coordinator.  

Zoi Konstantinou is a Marine Scientist MSc-PhD, with expertise on Integrated Coastal and Marine Management, as well as on Science-Policy-Society interface. Before joining the European Commission she worked in marine research, in science-policy interface and in higher education. As an EC Policy Officer, she is responsible for the European Marine Observation and Data network (EMODnet) and the EU Digital Twin of the Ocean (EU DTO), while she is working on other aspects of marine observations and data, marine knowledge and research. 

Kamel Labibes is the Founder and Chairman of Ayam Sailing Europe, an NGO dedicated to youth empowerment through sailing. With a background in science, he has extensive involvement in large-scale research projects spanning various disciplines and EU countries. He holds four international patents used for co-founding a JRC spin-off in Ispra, Italy, where he served as a laboratory manager. Kamel Labibes is the initiator of the citizen science initiative Erasmus Maris, focusing on empowering science teachers in upper-secondary schools to co-create knowledge related to marine conservation and engage their students in citizen science campaigns. He led and coordinated two EC-funded projects in which the Erasmus Maris concept was tested and demonstrated, addressing the critical issue of microplastic pollution. In view of implementing the concept EU-wide, Kamel pioneered collaborative efforts with the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre to address the issue of Quality Assurance and Quality Control within the citizen science paradigm.