The Marine Regions Forum is coordinated by the Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS) at GFZ, formerly the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), in partnership with the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI), and TMG – Think Tank for Sustainability.
We invite you to find out a little more about our team for theMarine Regions Forum 2023 in the Western Indian Ocean region:
Barbara Neumann leads the Ocean Governance Research Group at the Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS) at GFZ. Trained as a geographer, she has specialized human-environment interactions, sustainable development and environmental governance of coastal and marine areas. Her research interest is in understanding how governance processes can be designed and supported in such a way that they foster sustainable approaches and provide responses to the challenges ahead. She employs transdisciplinary and transformative research approaches and focuses particularly on the interface of science, policy/administration, and civil society.
Ben Boteler is a Senior Research Associate at the Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS) at GFZ. His current research focuses on European ocean governance and marine policy. In particular, he aims to identify and understand governance arrangements which break through established institutional and societal barriers, fostering progress towards the achievement of the EU’s Green Deal. From 2018 to 2022 he was the co-lead of the STRONG High Seas project (Strengthening Regional Ocean Governance for the High Seas), a project that aimed to facilitate the development of comprehensive, cross-sectoral approaches for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in the high seas, focusing on the Southeast Atlantic and Southeast Pacific regions.
© RIFS/ Arne Weychardt
Shannon Hampton was the project coordinator for the Marine Regions Forum in from 2022 to 2024. Prior to this, she spent 7 years working on various ocean governance research and capacity development initiatives throughout Africa while working at the IOI-SA, including coordinating the annual Course in Ocean Governance for Africa. Her work there also included coordinating IOI-SA’s contributions to the STRONG High Seas Project, MeerWissen’s WIOGEN and MAMI WATA’s Marine Spatial Planning capacity development program, amongst other projects. After completing her PhD in a multidisciplinary study on small pelagic fish stock structure (UCT, South Africa), she co-wrote the generic Industry Code of Conduct for Responsible Fishing in South Africa on contract for CapFish and spent time volunteering on the Earthwatch African Penguin project and the Namibian Dolphin Project.
Laura Weiand was the research associate for the Marine Regions Forum. She has a background in marine ecology and sociology, specialising on the science-policy-society interface. Laura was at RIFS from 2016 until 2024 and was part of the Marine Regions Forum project from 2018 until 2024. Prior to joining the RIFS, Laura led a socio-ecological research and development project in West Papua, which focused on capacity building, marine monitoring, and the sustainable management of marine protected areas. Her thesis, conducted with the ZMT-Leibniz Centre for Topical Marine Ecology in Bremen, investigated top-down and bottom-up anthropogenic divers that regulate coastal marine ecosystems, in Makassar, Indonesia.
Olga Lukyanova was the project assistant for the Marine Regions Forum in 2022 and 2023. She has a diverse education and professional background: she worked as a producer and researcher for various cultural institutions in the EU and Russia before switching to the field of nature conservation and sustainable resource management. Olga holds an MSc degree in Integrated Natural Resource Management (Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany), MA in Media, Art and Culture (Erasmus Mundus joint degree: Danube University Krems, Austria; Aalborg University, Denmark; University of Lodz, Poland) and a BA in International Economic Relations (The State University of Management, Moscow, Russia).
Anastasia Roberts was the project assistant for the Marine Regions Forum in 2023 and 2024. She has a diverse background working both within institutes and in the private sector. Anastasia has an academic background in Ecology, with a focus on the interplay between land use practices, biodiversity conservation, and ecological resilience. Her most recent work prior to joining RIFS looked at the cascading impacts of insect decline in Germany. She also has a particular interest in sustainable farming practices and has done various research on biological controls for integrated pest management implementation.
Julien Rochette is the Director of the IDDRI Ocean programme, aimed at strengthening cooperation for the sustainable and equitable management of marine resources. He holds a doctorate in public law (University of Nantes) and public international law (University of Milan), and is specialized in legal and policy aspects related to ocean governance. His work has led him to invest mainly in regional organizations, particularly in the Mediterranean, the Western Indian Ocean, West Africa and the Pacific. Julien is a member of several French and international expert groups and a lecturer in various French universities.
Klaudija Cremers joined IDDRI in 2019 as Research Fellow International Marine Policy. She studied Liberal Arts and Sciences with a specialisation in Global Justice at Leiden University College The Hague and has a LL.M. in Public International Law from Leiden University. Her Master’s thesis investigated the gaps in the international legal framework of managing fish stocks in the high seas. Previously, Klaudija worked for ClientEarth in Brussels as EU Fisheries Lawyer with a focus on the implementation of the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy. She has also completed traineeships at the European Parliament and at the Embassy of the Netherlands in New Zealand.
Angelo Sciacca joined IDDRI in 2023 as a Senior Research Fellow (Blue Tourism). His expertise lies at the intersection of the circular economy, tourism, and island and coastal areas. Angelo holds a PhD from Edinburgh Napier University with his research investigating the transition of the tourism sector towards a more circular economy in small islands. He also holds a master’s degree in Ecotourism. Prior to joining IDDRI, Angelo held various roles in Southeast Asia, particularly Myanmar, and Europe. His work involved supporting the development of circular entrepreneurship in coastal tourism, community-based and ecotourism in coastal and island destinations and conducting research on smart tourism ecosystems. Angelo has worked side-by-side with communities, small-medium-sized tourism enterprises, and local, regional and national public sector for the promotion of a more sustainable and circular tourism sector.
Alexander Müller was leading from 2014 to 2018 a global study on “The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity for Agriculture and Food” (TEEBAgriFood) hosted by UN Environment. From 2006 to 2013 he served as Assistant-Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), where he was responsible for the Voluntary Guidelines for Responsible Governance of Tenure (VGGT). In June 2009 the UN Secretary-General nominated Alexander as a member of the Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change (AGECC) to advise on the energy-related dimensions of climate change negotiations. From 2007 to 2011 he was chairing the UN Standing Committee on Nutrition. From 2001 to 2005 he served as State Secretary in the German Ministry for Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture. In 2017 he, along with Klaus Töpfer and Harmut Gaßner founded “TMG – Töpfer, Müller, Gaßner GmbH, ThinkTank for Sustainability” and TMG Research gGmbH, where he works as managing director.
Luise von Pogrell was a Research Associate at TMG – Think Tank for Sustainability in Berlin, Germany. She works on a variety of Ocean Governance topics and joined the Marine Regions Forum team in 2021. Additionally, she is involved in the Integrated Assessment of Atlantic Marine Ecosystems in Space and Time (iAtlantic) project. Before that, she worked at the Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS) at GFZ (previously IASS) with a focus on deep seabed mining discussions at the International Seabed Authority.
Students and Interns at RIFS
