Program > Plenary speakers

Plenary speakers

We are happy to share the plenary speakers of SERE2026 conference here! All plenaries will be translated to French. 
Angelika Rubin
Renaud Jaunatre
Joanne Preston
Bohdan Prots
Sophus zu Ermgassen
The information on the speakers is updated continuously.

Angelika Rubin

...

Renaud Jaunatre

Renaud is a plant ecologist working at LESSEM (Laboratory of Mountain Ecosystems and Societies) in Grenoble, in the French Alps. His research is primarily conducted in the context of the restoration of terrestrial Mediterranean and mountain ecosystems, with three main topics: (1) to better understand the assembly of plant communities in order to (2) optimise restoration techniques and (3) to develop methodological tools for assessing restoration practices. From the start of his PhD to the present day, he has sought to bridge the gap between applied questions raised by environmental managers or restoration practitioners and more fundamental issues in community ecology. He is also increasingly involved in the study, development and promotion of ecosystem restoration in France, particularly in his role as president of REVER, the French national network for ecological restoration.

Joanne Preston

Joanne is a Marine Biologist based at the Institute of Marine Sciences, University of Portsmouth, where she leads the Centre for Seascape Restoration. Her groups research is focused on understanding the biodiversity, functioning, connectivity and value of marine coastal habitats to facilitate their recovery and restoration. She is an advocate of effective science communication to support changes in policy and sustainable use and management of marine resources. Working with a group of expert authors, Preston edited a series of marine restoration ‘how to’ handbooks launched at COP26. She co-founded the UK/Ireland Native Oyster Network with the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and is Chair of the European Native Oyster Restoration Alliance. Preston provides scientific leadership for the Solent Seascape and Oyster Restoration Projects and convened 2 international conferences to bring habitat experts together to advocate a seascape approach to ecosystem restoration.  Preston sits on the Seascape Oversight Panel for the Endangered Landscapes and Seascapes Programme at Cambridge Conservation Initiative. 
Website: https://shorturl.at/7ezTK 
Linked in: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prof-joanne-preston-seascaperestorationlab/
Instagram: seascape_restoration_lab 
Key recent publication: https://rdcu.be/eqH2e 

 Bohdan Prots

Bohdan has over 30 years of expertise and research in biodiversity and natural resource management across countries in Europe and Asia; over 20 years of managing international projects on nature conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources in the Danube-Carpathian Region; for more than 11 years, he served as the leader of WWF in Ukraine. He is also the Head of the Department of Landscape and Biota Diversity at the State Museum of Natural History, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Lviv, Ukraine (2018).

Awards: Whitley Award Winner for Nature Conservation (2007, London) (“Green Oscar” in Nature Conservation) and National Geographic Society's Wayfinder Award (2024).

Sophus zu Ermgassen

Dr Sophus zu Ermgassen is Senior Research Fellow and Nature finance lead at the University of Oxford’s Nature-positive Hub. Sophus and the team study investments in nature conservation and restoration, and the design and implementation of nature credit markets around the world. He has held several biodiversity economics expert advisory roles for the UK government and the EU Commission and runs executive education programmes and teaches Masters courses on biodiversity finance and economics at Oxford. He was named as one of the 100 most influential environmentalists in the UK in 2022, the most impactful early-career environmental scientist in the UK in 2023, and the most impactful early career researcher at Oxford Medical, Physical and Life Sciences Division in 2024.