Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted

Value Chains & Nutrition Research Leader, WorldFish, Malaysia

"Diversification of aquatic food systems: Oceans of Opportunity for nourishing nations.”

Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted is the Global Lead for Nutrition and Public Health at WorldFish, a One CGIAR entity. She was awarded the 2021 World Food Prize for her ground-breaking research, critical insights, and landmark innovations in developing holistic, nutrition-sensitive approaches to aquatic food systems, including aquaculture and capture fisheries. She played a key role in the development of the WorldFish 2030 research and innovation strategy: Aquatic Foods for Healthy People and Planet. She is a member of the Steering Committee of the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) of the United Nations Committee on World Food Security and Vice Chair of the UN Food Systems Summit 2021: Action Track 4 - Advance Equitable Livelihoods, and also a Food Systems Champion. She plays a pivotal role in promoting aquatic food systems for nourishing nations and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Shakuntala holds a PhD from the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University (presently: Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen), Denmark. She also holds an Honorary Doctorate from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

Pedro Encarnação

Director Aquacultura – Jerónimo Martins Agri-business

"Vertical Integration – Securing supply, quality and sustainability: The JMA fish case"

Pedro Encarnação is an aquaculture expert with extensive experience around the world. He has a bachelor’s degree in Marine Biology and a PhD in Fish Nutrition. In 2005, he moved to Asia as Technical director for Biomin (Biotech in animal nutrition). After 10 years in Asia, he returned to Portugal to join the Jerónimo Martins Agri-Business division as their Aquaculture Director to develop the group expansion in this new area. He is now focussing on developing aquaculture projects to supply the wide group supermarket network.

Gesche Krause / Laurie Hofmann

Institute Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), Germany.

"Creating narratives for sustainable marine food systems - matching ocean literacy, transformation needs and societal priorities."

Gesche Krause is a social scientist, who works at the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), Germany. Her current research centers around the assessment of impact of science to societal processes and more specifically on the social and economic dimensions of marine aquaculture. Among others, she is chair of the EU4Oceans Platform Working Group “Food from the Ocean”. She founded and chairs the International Commission of the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) expert working group on social and economic dimensions of aquaculture (WGSEDA) and is part of the executive board of the global Oceans Past Initiative (OPI).

Laurie Hofmann (who will deliver the presentation) is a marine biologist at the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research (AWI). Her research interests include innovative uses of macroalgae, growth and optimization of sea vegetables, the development of sustainable macroalgae aquaculture, and anthropogenic impacts on macroalgae. She is currently a member of the Eklipse Expert Working Group on Macroalgae Cultivation and editing a special topic on Scaling-Up Macroalgae Cultivation.