Cetacea

Caroline R. Weir studied for a BSc Ecology at the University of Sheffield, a MSc Marine Mammal Science at the University of Wales, Bangor, and completed her PhD in Ecology at the University of Aberdeen focused on cetaceans in the Gulf of Guinea region. Her research encompasses the ecology, abundance and behavior of cetacean species, and the mitigation of the potential impacts upon them from human activities. She is a member of the IUCN Cetacean Specialist Group, the CMS Scientific Council’s Aquatic Mammals Working Group, and the Southern Right Whale Consortium, and is co-founder of the Consortium for the Conservation of the Atlantic Humpback Dolphin. She sits on the Editorial Board of the African Journal of Marine Science. Her work has resulted in over 130 peer-reviewed publications. Since 2016 she has worked as Cetacean Ecologist for Falklands Conservation, carrying out conservation-focused scientific field research aimed at monitoring the post-whaling recovery of sei whales and southern right whales around the Falkland Islands. 

Peter Evans is Director of the UK marine environmental research charity, Sea Watch Foundation, and a Professor at the School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University. His first biology degree was at Aberdeen University followed by a DPhil in avian population genetics at Oxford University, and a NERC postdoctoral research fellowship on avian & mammalian population genetics. He has >40 years postdoctoral research experience working on seabirds and marine mammals mainly in northern European waters. His field research concentrates upon ecological, behavioural and conservation biology studies of cetaceans in UK, particularly on harbour porpoise, bottlenose dolphin, Risso’s dolphin, and minke whale.  He is author/editor of ten books on marine mammals and birds, and c. 200 scientific publications. He was founding Secretary of the European Cetacean Society, its Editor, and later Chair. He currently co-chairs marine mammal working groups within UNEP/ASCOBANS and ICES, and sits on various advisory committees for ASCOBANS, the Society of Marine Mammalogy, European Cetacean Society, and UK Mammal Society, as well as a member of the IUCN Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force.

Marianne Helene Rasmussen is the director of the Húsavík Research Center at University of Iceland and employed as a research professor at University of Iceland. The focus of this center is to conduct research on marine mammals. She started her studies on white-beaked dolphins in Iceland for her Master project and continued to do her Ph.D. about the acoustic communication in white-beaked dolphins. After finishing her Ph.D. she has been involved in research projects about most of the species in Icelandic waters as humpback whales, minke whales, blue whales, killer whales and harbour porpoises. She is teaching a marine mammal course in Húsavík, Iceland every year and involved in developing educational material for school kids about whales and dolphins.