Dr. Simone Panigada is the President of the Tethys Research Institute and Chair of the Scientific Committee of ACCOBAMS. His main field of expertise covers conservation and management of the marine environment, with emphasis on vulnerable and threatened species. He has worked with cetaceans for more than 30 years and focuses his interest also on assessing the anthropogenic impacts (vessel strikes, chemical pollution, habitat degradation and climate change) in the Mediterranean. Since 2009, he has pioneered as project manager and PI aerial surveys to estimate abundance and density of cetaceans in the central Mediterranean. Simone is for the second time the Scientific Coordinator of the ACCOBAMS Survey Initiatives (ASI), a series of large-scale surveys (aerial and ship based) to estimate cetaceans’ and large vertebrates’ density and abundance over the entire Mediterranean Basin. He is the director of the Tethys Telemetry lab, which focuses, since 2012, on satellite telemetry projects on fin and sperm whales in the Mediterranean Sea and in the Antarctic. Simone is Deputy Chair of the Marine Mammals Protected Areas Task Force, within the IUCN SSC/WCPA, developing the concept of Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMAs) throughout the world’s oceans. Simone is author and co-author of more than 75 peer-reviewed publications.

Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara (PhD 1985, U. California San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography) is a marine ecologist who has contributed for over 40 years to advancing knowledge of the ecology, behaviour and taxonomy of marine mammals and sharks. He is the honorary president of the Tethys Research Institute, which he founded in 1986. In 1991, he spearheaded the creation of the Pelagos Sanctuary for Mediterranean Marine Mammals, the world’s first high-seas marine protected area. From 1996 to 2003, he served as President of ICRAM, a government body responsible for providing scientific support to Italy’s national marine conservation policy. He served from 1999-2004 as the Italian Commissioner of the International Whaling Commission; from 1991-2022 as Deputy Chair of IUCN’s Cetacean Specialist Group; from 2002-2010 as Chair of the Scientific Committee of ACCOBAMS; and from 2014-2022 as the Councillor for aquatic mammals of the U.N. Convention of Migratory Species, appointed by the Conference of Parties. In 2013, he initiated the Important Marine Mammal Area program as an initiative of the IUCN Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force, which he co-founded and co-chairs. As a senior advisor, he also supports the Important Shark and Ray Area initiative. He taught conservation of marine biodiversity at the University Statale of Milan from 2007 to 2016. He has authored over 250 scientific works and 15 books, including “Sailing Across a Wounded Sea”, published by Springer Nature (further information on www.disciara.org).

Joan Gonzalvo, is a Catalan biologist whose main research interest is the conservation of the marine environment and, more specifically, the study and conservation of marine mammals. He holds a Ph.D. in Biodiversity from the University of Barcelona. His first experience in the field of cetacean research took place in 1998 in Greece. Since then, he gained expertise in research methods including ship-based, land-based and aerial surveys on cetaceans, individual photo-identification, behavioural sampling, remote biopsy sampling, cetacean dissection techniques and tissue sampling on stranded animals. Since 2012 he also works on Mediterranean monk seal research and conservation. Joan regularly collaborates with UNEP’s Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas (RAC/SPA) and the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans in the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and contiguous Atlantic area (ACCOBAMS). Among other consultancy work, he has prepared National Action Plans for the Conservation of Cetaceans in Syria and Lebanon, updated the Action Plan for the conservation of cetaceans in the Mediterranean and the Regional strategy for the conservation of the monk seal in the Mediterranean. Between 2020 and 2025 he Chaired the European Cetacean Society’s Council and is currently member of its Scientific Advisory Committee. In 2020 he became member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) Cetacean Specialist Group (CSG). Since 2006 his research is carried out mainly in western Greece, where he leads the Ionian Dolphin Project. Joan is author and co-author of more than 30 peer-reviewed publications.

Marina Costa is a marine biologist with over 25 years of experience studying cetaceans and marine ecosystems across the Mediterranean and beyond. She holds a PhD in Marine Biology from the University of St Andrews (UK), a Master’s in Environmental Policy and Economics, and a MSc in Biology from the University of Milan. Her expertise spans cetacean population assessment, and habitat modeling; line-transect distance sampling; GIS-based spatial analysis; aerial, vessel-based, and drone survey methodologies; marine conservation and policy implementation (i.e., EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive). Marina has led and collaborated on international projects in the Red Sea, the South Atlantic, and the Mediterranean Sea. A member of the Tethys Research Institute since 2002 and on its Board since 2020, she is also a skilled skipper and diver, passionate about providing science-based data to drive marine conservation. Currently she is a researcher at the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA).

Elena Politi, biologist, collaborates with the Tethys Research Institute since 1991 (full-time up to 2010). Initially involved in data collection and analysis on dolphins in Croatia, in 1993 she founded the Ionian Dolphin Project, a long-term project on the socio-ecology of two resident populations of coastal dolphins in the Ionian Greece, which she directed until 2003. From 2003 to 2010 she has actively managed the Tethys Research Institute as Executive Director first and Financial Manager later on. In her career within Tethys, Elena has been involved in several research campaigns run by the Institute, including surveys in the Caribbean Sea, in the Canary Islands, in the former Spanish Sahara, and several Mediterranean areas. She has been member of the Tethys Board of Director’s from 1994 to 2016, and has been Tethys vice-president from 1996 to 2000.

From 2015 she works as freelance web designer, managing, among others, several web site projects connected to the activities conducted by the Tethys Research Institute.