Partners
Overview
Ambition
Work Packages
Get involved with the co-creation of SURIMI tools
Get involved with the co-creation of SURIMI tools
Claudia is a research advisor at NORCE and the project manager for SURIMI. Within the project, she oversees coordination, streamlines administrative processes, and ensures efficient project management. Claudia is passionate about bridging the gap between science and society, striving to make scientific discoveries accessible and meaningful to the public.
Patrycja is the coordinator of SURIMI and a social science methodologist with a passion for developing computational models that represent complex societal dynamics and exploring "what-if" scenarios to showcase possible futures. She has been an active member of the European Open Science Cluster, served as Secretary (2020-2022), and has been a member of the Management Committee of the European Social Simulation Association. Patrycja is also a proud recipient of the European Social Simulation Association’s Best Student Paper Award (2017). Within SURIMI, she focuses on integrating socio-ecological models into the European Digital Twin of the Ocean to inform real-world problem-solving and policymaking. She is dedicated to uniting consortium partners around shared goals, ensuring the project’s mission is both enjoyable and successful.
Timo is a researcher specialising in the intersection of humanities and technology, focusing on sustainable social and ecological transformations. With experience coordinating and researching several EU-funded projects, including Horizon 2020, he applies qualitative, quantitative, and computational methods to explore social-ecological systems. His research interests include agent-based modelling and using games to study decision-making and future scenarios. As part of SURIMI, Timo is responsible for Work Package 3, focusing on building the system dynamics model while fostering strong collaboration with other modelers to ensure smooth integration across models.
Jeroen is a classically trained software engineer with extensive experience in industrial, commercial and academic settings, and has been a core programmer of the Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) food web modelling approach for over 20 years. Under SURIMI, he will be augmenting EwE with agent-based fisheries models to assess if better representing fishers’ behaviour will lead to better model performance. He will also bring the EwE approach to the European Digital Twin of the Oceans as a building block for integrating ecosystem models into digital twins, decision support systems, and into tools that provide ecological feedback to societal processes. One of Jeroen’s passions is to interconnect disparate sciences to make the process of ecosystem modelling better, and to make marine ecosystem models available to policy makers and society in general.
Villy is a professor with over 40 years of experience focused on modelling for ecosystem-based management. He leads the development of the Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) modelling framework and has worked with modellers worldwide. In SURIMI, he will primarily focus on development and integration of the socio-ecological modelling complex, notably value chains and the associated MICE and EwE models. Villy is committed to capacity building and making data and models accessible, and he is a strong supporter of the ambitious DTO integration and activities.
Ana has a background in marine conservation and restoration, as well as in fisheries management. She holds an Erasmus Mundus M.Sc. in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation, and a joint PhD in marine habitat restoration from Heriot-Watt University and University of St Andrews (UK). Within SURIMI, Ana is leading on WP1 and stakeholder engagement. She currently works as a Science Officer at the European Marine Board, a European think tank in marine science policy, which transfers knowledge between the scientific community and decision makers. In SURIMI, Ana leads the work on stakeholder engagement. Find Ana on LinkedIn>, ResearchGate and Google Scholar.
Sheila is the Executive Director of the European Marine Board and Professor in Ecosystem Modelling at the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI). Sheila is Vice-Chair of the EOOS Steering Group, sits on the Ecopath Consortium Board, on the External Expert Identification Committee of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in Canada, and on the Advisory Boards of various EU projects including Blue Cloud 2026, Mission Atlantic, MarinePlan, NECCTON, among others. Within SURIMI, Sheila is leading WP1 where she and colleagues from the EMB will be working on stakeholder engagement through workshops. She has previously been part of various ICES Working Groups (WKIRISH, WGCOMEDA, etc.) as well as the International Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). She is the editor of EMB Policy documents (see below http://www.marineboard.eu/publications).
Work Package 1: Dissemination, Exploitation and Communications LeadEvelina is a fisheries economist and statistician with more than 20 years of extensive expertise in analysing the social and economic dimensions of fisheries activities and their adaptation to external drivers and global pressures. Her expertise lies in investigating the socio-economic dimensions of fisheries, focusing on data interoperability, ecosystem-based management and economic valuation of marine ecosystem services. In SURIMI, she supervises the social and economic data analysis included in WP2, including the development and refinement of socioeconomic indicators, and leads the review of bio-economic and socio-ecological models in WP3. Evelina is also responsible for the preparation and ongoing maintenance of the project's Data Management Plan.
Work Package 2: Data Scoping, Inventory and Acquisition Lead Work Package 2: Standardization, harmonization, and preparation Lead Work Package 3: Model Scoping Lead
Alice is a marine ecologist interested in applying bioeconomic models to fisheries management. Her research is focused on the intersection of marine biology and economic principles, with the objective of optimising fisheries management and sustainability. As part of the SURIMI project, Alice is responsible for evaluating and standardising bioeconomic data, which are then applied to the models developed for the project. Additionally, she is involved in reviewing existing fishery models and evaluating their application and interoperability. Her research is focused on promoting sustainable fishing practices and informing policy decisions that balance ecological conservation and economic development in the fisheries sector.
Emma has more than 15 years’ experience in EU-funded projects. She has been the communication, dissemination and exploitation work package leader in several H2020/FP7 projects and is currently carrying out this role in different H2020 projects, many of which are focused on aquaculture. Emma has wide experience in organising and facilitating large multi-stakeholder events and has provided training in proposal writing and management for different organisations. She has worked as Senior Project Manager in several companies in Spain, Ireland, Belgium and France both in securing funding and managing projects. Her professional qualifications include Development Cooperation and Project Management (MSc) and Coastal Zone Evaluation and Management (MSc). She is fluent in English, Spanish and French.
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki is the largest Higher Education Institution in Greece and SE Europe, with 11 Faculties, 41 Schools and 289 Laboratories. The University has two main goals: to educate its undergraduate and postgraduate students, and to produce original scientific knowledge and innovative research. The Laboratory of Ichthyology (School of Biology) has been active in marine and freshwater research (ichthyology, fisheries biology and management, stock assessment, zooplankton ecology, limnology, oceanography) since its establishment in 1990. Faculty members of the laboratory have been participating in international projects, monitoring of marine and freshwater populations and habitats and various national and international committees and editorial boards.
Athanassios is a full-time faculty member (Prof) at the School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, where he teaches undergraduate zoology and fish biology courses and co-ordinates the postgraduate course on Fisheries Biology and Management. His main research activities focus on fish biology and fisheries, stock assessment and management of Mediterranean fisheries, the effect of climate on marine populations, and ecosystem modelling and management. He has participated in over 50 research projects (ProtoMedea, ODYSSEA, ILIAD, EcoScope) and coordinated 10 of them, including EcoScope. He served as a national expert in the Marine Strategy Coordination Group (2012-15), as a reserve board member of Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (2010-13), co-chaired the ICES Working Group on Small Pelagic Fishes, their Ecosystems and Climate Impact (2016-19) and chaired the FishBase Consortium (2023-24); since 2022, he is the Vice-Chair of the Sea Around Us Advisory Board. His work has received over 5300 citations and is listed among the top percentile rank of 2% in the sub-fields of Marine Biology and Fisheries.
Sophie holds a BSc in Environmental Science and Technology from Middlesex University, London with additional training at the Technical Chamber of Greece on Environmental Impact Assessments. Sophie has experience of conducting Environmental Impact Assessments, on customer and order management and on accounting in the private sector. Since 2021 she is a team member of the Laboratory of Ichthyology of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, working as project manager in EU, national and private funded program. Within SURIMI, Sophie ensures the project stays on track, within budget, and meets the required quality standards.
Work Package 2: Data fit-for purposeDr. Maria Lazarina (Ph.D. in Biology, M.Sc. in Environmental Biology, and B.Sc. in Biology from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) specializes in mapping biodiversity patterns and uncovering their underlying drivers using advanced statistical and modeling techniques. In the SURIMI project, she is responsible for the acquisition and curation of data that will inform the SURIMI models.
Antonis is the Managing Director of Konnecta Systems and is a seasoned technology leader with over two decades of extensive experience in software engineering, architecture, and digital transformation. Antonis serves as the Project Manager within SURIMI, overseeing the integration of tools into the EU DTO, with the goal of ensuring the accessibility of SURIMI outputs within the EDITO ecosystem.
Antonis has successfully led numerous EU R&D projects across diverse domains, including Transport & Logistics, Smart Cities, and Maritime, showcasing his ability to bridge technical expertise with strategic vision. He holds a Diploma in Electrical & Electronic Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens and an MSc in Satellite and Mobile Communications from the University of Surrey. With a strong focus on leveraging advanced technologies such as AI and Digital Twin techniques, Antonis is also credited as a principal inventor on eight patent applications across Europe, the USA, and Canada. Within SURIMI, Antonis oversees the integration of SURIMI tools into the DTO, with the goal of ensuring the accessibility of SURIMI outputs within the EDITO ecosystem.
Aristea is a Senior Research Scientist and Team Lead with extensive experience in applying Big Data and Digital Twin technologies across diverse domains, including transportation and logistics, IT, and food waste. Aristea has contributed to several EU R&D projects, leveraging her expertise to enhance technology integration and innovation. Her background also includes work in Big Data for the gaming industry and entrepreneurial ventures in the start-up ecosystem. Within SURIMI, Aristea acts as Project Manager and Task Leader for T4.1 and T4.3. In these tasks, her team is responsible for developing the Data GUI (i.e., User Interface that visualises SURIMI data) and Model GUI (i.e., User Interface that allows for the execution of “what-if” scenarios through the SURIMI models) for the SURIMI toolbox, adopting a co-design and co-creation approach facilitated through dedicated stakeholder workshops.
Nicolas is a Research Software Engineer at the University of Oxford. He has decades of programming experience (he started very young) and a PhD in Philosophy. Nicolas is the lead developer of POSEIDON, which is the agent-based component of the SURIMI toolbox. He works closely with the other modelers in SURIMI to ensure that all models play well together and can be used to explore interesting and relevant fisheries management scenarios.