APECS Webinars

Mentor Panel Discussion
--- Junior and Senior Researchers with successful funding records share advice and answer questions from participants

Panelists (bios below):
Mario Acquarone, NAMMCO, Tromsø, Norway
Sara Ullerø - Fulbright Foundation, Olso, Norway
Benjamin Planque, Institute of Marine Research, Tromsø, Norway
Per Magnus Kommandantvold - Research Council of Norway
Paul Renaud - Akvaplaniva, Tromsø, Norway

About the APECS Research Funding Workshop:

As part of the Arctic Frontiers Young Scientist Forum, APECS hosted a workshop to help expose young polar researchers to the amazing opportunities that are available to help you fund your studies and research. To find out more about the young researcher activities at this conference, visit apecs.is/events/details/265-apecs-research-funding-workshop.

This event was sponsored by Akvaplan-niva and The Norwegian Polar Institute, Center for Ice, Climate and Ecosystems.

Mentors:

Mario Acquarone, NAMMCO, Tromsø, Norway
Since 1992 Mario participated in studies of whales and seals in the Mediterranean, working for the Tethys Research Institute and for the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources and the department of Arctic Environment of the National Environmental Research Institute. Among other fields he has experience with Satellite Tracking, Line Transect Surveys, Geographical Information Systems and Physiology. He did his PhD work while at the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Copenhagen, Denmark i investigating which role walruses play in the ecosystem, especially concentrating on quantifying their need for food as a conservation tool. Mario has also applied his knowledge and organizational skills in areas as diverse as the highlands of Bolivia and expedition cruises both in the Arctic and the Antarctic. Presently he is employed as Scientific Secretary of the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission - NAMMCO where he facilitates the work of the Scientific Committee.

Sara Ullerø, Fulbright Foundation, Olso, Norway
Sara Ullerø has worked as a program officer and student adviser at the Fulbright Foundation in Oslo since 2008. She has a degree in Media Science and Political Science from the University of Oslo, where she also worked in the International Education Office both with outgoing exchange students and incoming international students for three years, before starting at her current position at Fulbright.

Benjamin Planque, Institute of Marine Research, Tromsø, Norway
In 1996, Benjamin defended his PhD in biological oceanography, at the University 'Pierre et Marie Curie'. During 1997-2000 he has worked at CEFAS on the effects of climate variations on demersal and bottom fish populations. From 2000 to 2007 he worked at Ifremer on the effects of large- and meso-scale environmental fluctuations on small pelagic fish populations. In 2008, Benjamin joined the deep sea species group at IMR. His current research focuses on the ecology and assessment of deepwater fish. I am leading the national project BarEcoRe.

Per Magnus Kommandantvold, EU RTD department, Research Council of Norway
(b. 1964), trained in Arts and Political Science at The University of Oslo. Previously worked in Lånekassen (The State Educational Loan Fund), and from 1994 in The Research Council of Norway, always in the field of internationalisation. From 2000 he has been involved in the EU Framework programmes. He is National Contact Point for Ideas - The European Research Council (ERC), Regions of Knowledge, The People programme (Marie Curie actions) and Research Infrastructures. Programme Committee member for the two latter. Participated in Svalbardkurset 2009.

Paul Renaud, Akvaplaniva, Tromsø, Norway
Paul Renaud studies the role of marine communities in the ecosystem. Working primarily with Arctic seafloor fauna, Paul investigates how community structure, carbon and nutrient cycling, and trophic interactions vary in time and space, the environmental forces leading to this variability, and the management implications of changes in climatic and human pressures in the system. Paul received his graduate degrees from the US and Sweden, and currently is a researcher at Akvaplan-niva in Tromsø (Norway), and holds adjunct faculty positions at the University Centre in Svalbard and the University of Connecticut (USA).