PRACTICIONER ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS
She graduated in Environmental Sciences at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in 2006. After finishing her degree, she worked in the private sector for several years, in various environmental fields such as atmospheric emissions control, the control of international trade in endangered species (CITES agreement), and the analysis of environmental geographic information. Since 2010, she has been a senior technical expert of OO.AA. from the Ministry of Environment, where she has performed several tasks including the control of invasive species and riverbank restoration projects in Júcar Hydrographic Confederation, or the promotion and supervision of pilot projects on rural development in the Spanish National Rural Network. Since 2017, she has been working at the General Sub-directorate for Sea Protection, where she is part of the team that coordinates the application of Directive 2008/56/CE Framework of the Marine Strategy in Spain.
Dina Eparkhina is Senior Policy and Communications Officer at EuroGOOS – the European component of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO. Dina is developing science-policy and stakeholder engagement strategies to empower the voice of oceanography in public policies and decision making. Her work at the science-policy interface aims at fostering cross and multi-disciplinary engagements and promoting strategic alignment and co-development in the European Research Area. Dina is the instigator of the EuroGOOS network on ocean literacy and coordinator of ‘Scientists for Ocean Literacy’ project of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021-2030. She is author of a child book ‘The Ocean Is My Home’ translated into five languages and used internationally. She has co-authored or edited dozens of science-policy publications.
Sorcha Ní Longphuirt has spent over 20 years working in the marine sphere, firstly as a research scientist working on nutrient and carbon cycling in coastal systems followed by 9 years working as a Marine Scientist with the Environmental Protection Agency in Ireland. Sorcha has been a Marine Policy advisor with the Department of Housing Local Government and Heritage in Ireland for the last two years. Sorcha is responsible for the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive including the development of measures to improve the environmental status of the marine environment.
Responsible for transposition and implementation of Marine Strategy Framework Directive in Romania, Otilia is the representative on behalf of Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests to Working Groups of GES, DIKE WG, Drafting Group GES, MSCG related to Marine Strategy Framework Directive (2008/56/CE) organized by the DG ENV ( from 2010 to now). As member of Drafting Group GES, and GES WG and DIKE WG. She has participated in drafting documents such as “Common Understanding of (Initial) Assessment, Determination of Good Environmental Status (GES) & Establishment of Environmental Targets (Articles 8, 9 & 10 MSFD), and MSFD monitoring guidance, and Art.8 MSFD Assessment Guidance”. Otilia is also the coordinator of Eastern Continental GIG -natural lakes, coordinator of the Black Sea GIG for the implementation of Water Framework Directive, and member of ECOSTAT which coordinates the Common Implementation Strategy of Water Framework Directive. Shenis also the National Representative of Conservation Biological Diversity Advisory Group and Pollution and Monitoring Assessment Advisory Group of the Black Sea under Convention on Protection of the Black Sea against Pollution ( Bucharest Convention) and the National Focal point of WG for the Environmental Protection of Black Sea Economic Cooperation.
Otilia is a Member of Advisory Group for Marine Litter –UNEP (ONU) – “Combating marine plastic litter and microplastics: An assessment of the effectiveness of relevant international, regional and subregional governance strategies and approaches” (2017)
Juuso is a marine oriented geographer and works as Data Analyst at the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM). He works with GIS and data on topics related to nutrient inputs, human activities at sea and cumulative impacts. Juuso has a background in geography, environmental studies and marine studies
Since December, 2010, Irina works at the Permanent Secretariat of the Commission on the Protection of Black Sea Against Pollution (Bucharest Convention), an international intergovernmental organization based in Istanbul, Turkey. In April, 2014 was elected as Pollution Monitoring and Assessment (PMA) Officer. Before moving to Turkey worked as a diplomat in the Mission of Ukraine to the European Union in Brussels being responsible for EU-Ukraine cooperation in the field of environment, transport, space, research and education; earlier as a Deputy Head of Office to Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine on European Integration and as a diplomat of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. She has a Master Degree in the field of Environmental and Energy Law obtained at a Faculty of Law of the Catholic University of Leuven (Kingdom of Belgium), Certificates on Water Law (University of Dundee, Scotland), Environmental Diplomacy (University of Geneva, Switzerland) and Regional Economics (University of Genoa, Italy). Since April 2018 she has been a member of the Pool of Experts for United Nations Regular Process for Global Reporting and Assessment of the State of the Marine Environment, including Socioeconomic Aspects.
Monika is an environmental scientist with several decades of experience from water management, assessments and research. Currently she works as an Expert on sustainability transitions for oceans and freshwaters at the European Environment Agency in Copenhagen (DK).
Monika has long term experience from work as an expert supporting the national Government in Slovenia for the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) since 2004. In that context she was involved in the regional coordination of the MSFD implementation in the Mediterranean. Between 2003-2010. She also worked on various aspects of the Water Framework Directive implementation with main focus on land-sea interactions.
Currently she leads the strategic and assessment work required under the freshwater and marine policies in view of the systemic and integrated framework provided by the European Green Deal and the related Strategies.
Roland Cormier has a Ph.D. from the University of Hull (United Kingdom) in marine environmental risk assessment and management. He has more than 40 years’ experience in fisheries, seafood safety and environmental management with a particular focus on the effectiveness of environmental management measures and risk. After doing crustacean stock assessments at Fisheries and Oceans Canada, he worked in shellfish bio-toxin and seafood safety programs at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Subsequently, he worked at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Italy) on seafood HACCP-based risk management. After returning to Fisheries and Oceans Canada, he worked in freshwater and marine fish habitat protection, integrated oceans management and environmental assessment programs.
He is currently pursuing effectiveness science at Fisheries and Oceans Canada and marine planning policy as a guest scientist at the Institute of Coastal Systems at Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon (Germany). As part of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea activities (Denmark), He co-chairs the Working Group for Cumulative Effects Assessment Approaches in Management and is a member of the Working Group on Marine Planning and Coastal Zone Management. As part of the United Nation initiatives on sustainable development, he is a member the Group of Experts on Risk Management in Regulatory Systems of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, (Switzerland) as well as a member of the Pool of Experts for the third cycle of the Regular Process for 2021-2025 for the assessment of the state of the marine environment at the United Nations (New York). He is an associate professor at the Université de Moncton (Canada) and is actively pursuing research activities and lecturing at universities in Canada and Europe.
