Prof. Carmelo Tomas is a Professor at the University of North Carolina, USA as well as a project scientist for ECOHAB (Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms) of Florida’s Marine Research Institute. Carmelo has extensive expertise in physiological ecology of marine phytoplankton with a particular emphasis on harmful algal bloom (HAB) species. He edited the book “Identifying Marine Phytoplankton”, which is an authoritative guide to the identification of marine microalgae and has become the standard text for phytoplankton identification. He was instrumental in the success of the 1st International Phytoplankton Identification Workshop held here in 2009.
Dr Karen Steidinger is a Senior Researcher at the University of South Florida, USA. Her area of expertise is in dinoflagellates and in particular Harmful Algal Blooms. Her contributions to phycology and oceanography, spanning four decades, have led to Karen being afforded legendary status. In honour of her tremendous contribution to research on toxic dinoflagellates the genus Gymnodinium was renamed Karenia. In 2008 she was awarded the Yasumoto Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Society for the Study of Harmful Algae (ISSHA). We look forward to welcoming Karen to Plymouth.
Dr Diana Sarno is a Senior Researcher at the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Naples, Italy. Her research interests are in marine phytoplankton taxonomy and ecology. Diana has published extensively and is regarded as a leading international expert in diatom taxonomy. She is currently in charge of the phytoplankton time series data of the MareChiara program. Diana was a key tutor at our 2009 Phytoplankton Identification Workshop and we are looking forward to welcoming her back to Plymouth.
Dr Ian Probert is a Senior Researcher at the Station Biologique de Roscoff, France. Ian is the Curator for the coccolithophorid collection of the Roscoff Culture Collection and is in charge of the EU FP7 research infrastructure initiative, ASSEMBLE, at Roscoff. He has published extensively and is regarded as an international expert in haptophyte taxonomy. He works closely with researchers at the MBA and is a regular visitor to Plymouth.