PRELIMINARY PROGRAM

INVITED SPEAKERS

René Forsberg – Propolar

René Forsberg is a professor at the National Space Institute, Technical University of Denmark. He has worked extensively with geodetic, satellite and airborne research for cryosphere monitoring, geodesy and mapping. He has lead numerous campaigns in Greenland, the Arctic Ocean, arctic Canada and Antarctica, with focus both on cryosphere research and polar geophysics. The Greenland work has focused on basic mapping and UNCLOS marine activities, and since the late 1990’s in climate change monitoring and satellite validation from aircraft campaigns, especially over the Arctic Ocean. Since 2009 he has initiated major Antarctic aero-geophysical campaign works, especially focused on covering the last unknown regions of Antarctica, done in close cooperation with Norwegian, UK, US and Argentinean scientists. He is currently chairman if the Danish national committee of SCAR, has led the ESA Greenland Ice Sheet Initiative for 12 years, and is presently chairman of the ESA Advisory Committee for Earth Observation.

Klemens Weisleitner – PEI

Dr. Klemens Weisleitner holds a PhD in Biology from the University of Innsbruck, Austria. He is an expert in microbial ecology and is currently affiliated with the Austrian Polar Research Institute, where he studies polar and alpine glaciers. His work spans a wide range of fields, including limnology, bioinformatics, microscopy, image analysis, and spectroscopy. Dr. Weisleitner has participated in four Antarctic expeditions and five Arctic expeditions for his scientific work. Beyond his scientific achievements, Dr. Weisleitner is also a professional photographer. Through his photography, he combines his love for nature, science, and expeditions, capturing the beauty and intricacies of the natural world. He uses art and photography to communicate science to the general public, with a particular focus on young people. He believes that these young minds will soon hold powerful political positions and therefore need to learn as much as possible about our natural world now.
Dr. Klemens Weisleitner is a science communicator with a strong presence in print media, TV, radio, and social media. He views ice not only as a scientific object but also admires its aesthetics, recognizing it as a vanishing treasure in the era of climate warming. He has co-produced various audio-visual projects and exhibitions. His collaborations include projects with Patagonia, the two-time Grammy-nominated musician Manu Delago (drummer for Björk), and the Natural History Museum in Vienna (Austria)

Marta Cruz Flores – APECS

Marta Cruz Flores is a researcher working on the ecology and conservation of birds. Currently,  working at the Research Institute in Hunting Resources (CSIC-Universidad de Castilla la Mancha, Spain) to assess hunting sustainability for declining migratory game birds and to develop population models about the impact of different hunting scenarios on bird populations.
Previously she carried out the project DeToxSea, at LIENSs laboratory (CNRS-Université la Rochelle, France), funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions of the European Commission from 2021 to 2023. This project aimed at evaluating the demographic effects of mercury-selenium toxic contamination on Arctic wildlife, using Arctic seabird populations as a model of study.
She performed her PhD at the University of Barcelona (Spain) between 2015 and 2020 entitled “Life history of a long-lived, migratory species”, using the Bulwer’s petrel as a species of study. I carried out a multidisciplinary thesis that comprised population, spatial and trophic ecology with expertise in seabirds, developing a solid background in animal ecology. During these years, she was involved in different collaborative projects, mainly related to the use of spatial analysis for the conservation of seabirds.
Before her PhD thesis, she worked as a technician at the Max Plank Insitute for Ornithology (Germany, 2014). Previously, during her undergraduate studies, she started gaining experience as a researcher thanks to several fellowships, such as a Collaboration Fellowship at the University Complutense of Madrid and a JAE-Intro Fellowship at the Spanish Council for Scientific Research. In these evolutionary and behavioral ecology projects, she used crickets, bird blood parasites and lizards as models of study.

GENERAL INFORMATION