Committees

Aonghais COOK
Principal Marine Biodiversity Specialist - Offshore Renewable Energy at The Biodiversity Consultancy Ltd.
He is Principal Ecologist for Offshore Renewable Energy at the British Trust for Ornithology. He has over 15 years experience investigating the impacts of renewable energyon birds, with a particular focus on offshore wind farms. Aonghais has servedas member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the last two CWW.

Alvaro CAMINA CARDENAL
‍Senior Environmental Specialist at International Finance Corporation
Environmental consultant with more than twenty years of experience in the wind industry and wildlife interactions globally. Currently Biodiversity specialist for the International Finance Corporation fo the World Bank. He has participated as speaker or pannelist in all the CWW Conferences since 2011. 

Aurélien BESNARD
Senior Lecturer of l'EPHE at CNRS
A new member of the SAC, Aurélien is a senior researcher of Ecole Pratique des HautesEtudes working at Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (scientific research institute) in Montpellier, France. A specialist of population dynamics working mainly on vertebrates, notably birds but also reptiles, amphibians ormammals, Aurélien has coordinated several research programs on the interactions between biodiversity and wind turbines.

Bob RUMES
Aquatic ecologist at Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
He is a senior researcher at the Marine Ecology and Management section of the Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels. Bob has coordinated the environmental impact assessments for all wind farms in Belgian waters, and has co-authored the yearly monitoring reports on their environmental impacts since 2010. He first attended CWW in 2013 in Stockholm.

Cris HEIN
‍Researcher V-Environmental Science, at National Renewable Energy Laboratory
He is a Senior Project Leader at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, USA. An active member of the International Energy Agency Wind Task 59 – Wind Energy-Environment Research & Engagement Network (WREN), Cris has 17 years of experience studying bat and wind turbine interactions. Cris has attended 5 of the past 7 CWWs and has served on the Science Advisory Committee for CWWs held in The Netherlands, Croatia, and France.

David TIDHAR
Biodiversity and environmental specialist at Masdar Clean Energy - Chair
He is the chair person for the 8^th CWW Conference Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC). David serves as the lead for biodiversity topics at Masdar.He has over 20 years of international experience in the field of windenergy and biodiversity/wildlife interactions. David previously chaired the SAC for the 7^th CWW Conference and served as a member of theSAC for the 5^th and 6^th CWW Conferences, and is passionate about the role CWW plays in helping drive nature positive solutions for renewable energy development, construction and operations.

Ed ARNETT
‍Chief Executive Officer at The Wildlife Society
He joined The Wildlife Society staff as the Chief Executive Officer in 2021, after 30 years working as a scientist, research and management biologist, policy liaison, and educator. He led research and policy efforts on wind energy and wildlife issues for more than a decade, has authored numerous articles and book chapters on bats and wind energy, and has served on all eight CWW SAC.

Emma BENNETT
Senior Research Officer at Monash University Melbourne
She is an independent ecologist based in Melbourne, Australia. Working on wind and wildlife issues since 2005, Emma has specialized in post construction fatality monitoring and developing mitigation solutions,with particular interest in protecting Australia’s unique bats. Emma has experience as an international expert in Asia, helping to develop world standard bird and bat monitoring projects. Emma attended the first CWW in Norway in 2011 and has been a member of the SAC since 2022.

Georg NEHLS
Managing Director at BioConsult SH
He is a biologist with expertise in ornithology, marine mammals and underwater noise. He is director of BioConsult SH in Germany and HiDef Aerial Surveying in theUK. He and his team are working for over 25 years on windfarm effects on marine and terrestrial fauna and thus regular contributors to CWW conferences since Norway, 2011.

Karine HEERAH
Researcher on marine megafauna at France Energies Marines
She is a quantitative marine ecologist at France Energies Marines, France. Karine is specialized in marine megafauna (pinnipeds, seabirds and fish), their behavior& environment. She is coordinating research programs developing methods for monitoring populations of marine megafauna species, particularly in the context of offshore renewable energies development. She is a new member of the SAC.

Kate WILLIAMS
Director of Center for Research on Offshore Wind and the Environment, Director of Wildlife and Renewable Energy Program at Biodiversity Research Institute - BRI
She is the Director of the Center for Research on Offshore Wind and the Environment at the Biodiversity Research Institute (BRI) in Maine, USA. She has worked on renewable energy and wildlife issues since 2010, with a particular focus on 1) assessing birds’offshore distributions and movements, and 2) working with stakeholder groups toidentify research priorities and inform environmentally responsible offshorewind energy development. Kate has served as a member of the SAC since 2022.

Mirna MAZIJA
Director at Supernatural Ltd. - Natura 2000 and Renewable energy development
He was the co-chair of the CWW2023 Organising Committee. She is a biodiversity specialist in the region, advising on the renewable energy projects and Natura 2000 species and site management. Her research interest are bats - population management and protection, interactions with windfarms and bringing innovative solutions to sophisticated mitigation measures.

Laith EL-MOGHRABI
Lead Ecologist at Fieldfare ecology
He is an ecologist with over25 years of experience in ecological research with a focus on habitat and bird monitoring. Over the past 15 years, he was involved in research on the impacts of wind energy on birds in West Asia and North & East Africa. Laith was a member of the CWW2023 SAC.

Roel MAY
Senior Research Scientist at Norwegian Institute for Nature Research
He is Senior Research Scientist at the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA). His research interest is set in the interface between science and conservation; and is centred on impacts of renewable energy on wildlife and spatial ecology. He is an active member of the International Energy Agency WindTask 59 – Wind Energy-Environment Research & Engagement Network (WREN). He was chair person for the 1^st CWW conference in 2011 and served in all consecutive CWW’s scientific advisory boards since then.

Samantha RALSTON-PATON
Birds and Renewable Energy Project Manager at BirdLife South Africa
(Sam) is BirdLife South Africa’s Birds and Renewable Energy Project Manager. Actively supporting a nature-friendly transition to renewable energy, Sam works with all stakeholders to help ensure that the impacts of renewable energy on birds and their habitats are understood and minimised. She was awarded a Mail and Gaudian Greening the Future Award in 2023. Sam has attended three CWW conferences in person and one remotely

Sytske VAN DEN AKKER
Researcher Consultant Marine Ecology at Waardenburg
She is Msc. in Marine Biology and works as Senior Environment and Sustainability Specialist at Vattenfall. She has more than 10years of experience coordinating marine ecology projects in offshore wind. Sheis passionate to use science to develop offshore wind in an ecological sustainable way, reducing negative and stimulating positive effects.

Véronique DE BILLY
Coordinator "Renewable Energy and Biodiversity" at the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB)
A new member of CWW SAC, Véronique works for the French Biodiversity State Agency (OFB), where she is coordinating the national program on Renewable energy and Biodiversity. Previous to this, Véronique worked for more than 15 years on the Mitigation hierarchy application in France, advising and supervising its application at a national level. Véronique holds a PhD on hydroelectricity impacts and watercourse ecological quality indices.

Winifred F. FRICK
Chief Scientist at Bat Conservation International
Dr. Winifred Frick is Chief Scientist at Bat Conservation International. She directs research to achieve conservation outcomes for bats, using actionable science and conservation evidence. She has worked on bat conservation for over20 years and published over 80 research papers on bat ecology and conservation. She has served on the Science Advisory Committee for CWW since 2023. She lives in California, USA.

Florian LECORPS
‍Director of Marine renewable energy Departement and Principal consultant on renewable energy / biodiversity issues at Biotope.
Director of Marine renewable energy Department and senior consultant on renewable energy /biodiversity issues. With almost 20 years of experience, Florian has been involved in numerous onshore, offshore wind farms assessment, monitoring programs in France and in Europe, as well as nature conservation programs. He attended 4 previous CWW and is delighted to work on welcoming the next CWW in France.

Robin DIXON
Head of Environment at France Renouvelables
My role is to reconcile the development of renewable energies (wind, solar and storage) with the preservation of biodiversity and landscapes, ensuring that environmental issues are taken into account in a demanding and proportionate way