Robin Chazdon is Professor Emerita in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department at the University of Connecticut and part-time Research Professor with the Tropical Forests and People Research Centre at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia.

Her long-term and on-going collaborative research focuses on successional pathways, forest dynamics, drivers of land-use change, and functional ecology of trees in Neotropical forests. Chazdon served as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Biotropica, as President of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, and as a member-at-large of the governing board of the Ecological Society of America. After 28 years as a university professor, Dr. Chazdon is moving into the science-policy and science-practice arena in forest landscape restoration. » show more

Malcolm "Mac" Hunter is the Libra Professor of Conservation Biology in the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Conservation Biology at the University of Maine.

He earned his B.S. in Wildlife Science at UMaine in 1974 then went to Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar where he received his Ph. D in Zoology. He joined the UMaine faculty in 1978 and has pursued research on a wide range of organisms and ecosystems: amphibians, birds, plants, mammals, lakes, streams, peatlands, grasslands, and especially forests. He has produced six books, including four on conservation biology and managing forests for biodiversity. His interests are also geographically broad; he has worked in over 30 countries, mainly in Africa and the Himalayas. » show more

Pierre L. Ibisch is a Professor for Nature Conservation at Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development, where he also holds a Research Professorship for Ecosystem-based Sustainable development.

He has a strong background in international research with projects and missions in Europe, Asia, Africa, and especially Latin America, where he lived and worked for about a decade. He is co-founding director of the Centre for Econics and Ecosystem Management. His current interests cover ecosystem-based sustainable development, including ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change and adaptive risk management, ecosystem functionality and learning from ecosystems for sustainability (econics), the importance of roadless areas, as well as the effectiveness of conservation strategies such as sustainability certification. » show more

David Lindenmayer is the Professor of Ecology and Conservation Biology at The Australian National University's Fenner School of Environment and Society

Professor Lindenmayer, is an Australian scientist and academic. He is an expert in landscape ecology, conservation and biodiversity. His areas of expertise also include environmental management, forestry management and environment, terrestrial ecology, wildlife and habitat management, environmental monitoring, forestry fire management, natural resource management, zoology and forestry sciences. He currently runs 6 large-scale, long-term research programs in south-eastern Australia, primarily associated with developing ways to conserve biodiversity in reserves, national parks, wood production forests, plantations, and on farm land. » show more

William (Bill) Sutherland holds the Miriam Rothschild Chair in Conservation Biology, University of Cambridge, is a Professorial Fellow at St Catharine's College and has been President of the British Ecological Society.

He has written six books, edited five others, published over 400 scientific papers and is a highly cited researcher. For much of his career he was a standard research ecologist with interests in applying research to applied questions and busy producing papers and books. Over the last decade or so he has become increasingly involved in linking science and policy through horizon scanning, exercises setting priority questions, improving the use of experts in decision making and especially evidence-based conservation. He intends to change global conservation practice.

Post-conference field trip (14-15 February 2019) is organized to allow participants experiencing the Białowieża Forest ecosystems and challenges of their conservation. The field trip will cover range of forms of nature conservation from managed forest to core area of the Białowieża National Park, where various approaches towards the nature conservation will be discussed. The trip will start from Warsaw on 14 February early morning and participants will arrive back in Warsaw at evening on 15 February (see the conference program for exact hours).