invited speakers
Catarina Silva
Catarina Silva is a researcher at the Centre for Functional Ecology (CFE), at the University of Coimbra (Portugal). Her current research employs machine learning techniques for automatic species identification and size estimation from images in fisheries, enhancing the accuracy of data collection and supporting sustainable management practices. She is currently coordinating “WP3: Bycatch Monitoring” of the project “REDUCE – Reducing bycatch of threatened megafauna in the East Central Atlantic” where machine learning models are being developed for automatic detection of megafauna from electronic monitoring video systems in European fishing vessels.
Catarina is also a co-founder of the Fish AI Consortium (fishaiconsortium.org) a global network of individuals and organisations advancing artificial intelligence based image analysis to study fish population management, ecology, and conservation.
Lorenzo Vilizzi
Prof. Lorenzo Vilizzi is an academic researcher at the University of Lodz in Poland, specializing in ecology with a strong statistical foundation. He has published over 150 peer-reviewed scientific papers and collaborates extensively with private, academic and government institutions worldwide. Since the early 2000s, he has focused on invasion biology, particularly non-native species risk analysis. Lorenzo is the developer of the ‘ISK’ decision support tools, which are widely used globally. Recently, he has coordinated multi-author studies in invasion biology with a network of over 300 researchers worldwide. Since 2023, he has been conducting the certified courses on non-native species risk screening using the ISK tools for various institutions, including the United Nations.
Daniel Żarski
Daniel Żarski is among the most recognized scientists in the field of percid reproduction and development. His achievements include the development of several important hatchery protocols and methods that have become “gold standards” in the aquaculture of perch and pikeperch. Throughout his career, he has focused on reproductive physiology, egg quality assessment, factors affecting gamete quality, and mechanisms involved in parental contribution to progeny quality in fish, with percids being the major model species. He has published more than 130 papers, with nearly 40 as the leading author. Additionally, he is the lead author of the first hatchery manual for Eurasian perch. He is currently Scientific Director at the Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of the Polish Academy of Science and is leading emerging research Team concerned by reproduction and development in fish. He is also a Board Member of the European Aquaculture Society (EAS).
Sylvie Dufour
Sylvie Dufour, Emeritus Research Director at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), is currently Head of Mission for the Sea at the National Museum of Natural History (MNHN), Paris, and Vice-Director of the Ocean Institute of the Sorbonne University Alliance. She has founded and directed the research laboratory BOREA «Biology of Aquatic Organisms and Ecosystems» (MNHN, CNRS, Sorbonne University, Institute for Research and Development (IRD), University of Caen-Normandy and University of Antilles). She has participated in various European Community programs, notably on the European eel (EELREP, PROEEL, ITN IMPRESS and currently COST Action EELSUPPORT). She is a Visiting Professor at the National Taiwan Ocean University (NTOU). Her research projects in the field of evolutionary biology focus on the origin and evolution of neuroendocrine regulatory systems and their roles in the evolution and adaptation of life cycles in the context of the global changes. She is also committed in promoting science outreach towards scholars and citizens.
Jurica Jug Dujaković
Dr. Jurica Jug Dujaković, current adviser to M.J.D. Consulting doo Croatia, invited professor at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, has a successful scientific, educational and business career. After graduating from the University of Zagreb, he was employed as a research assistant at the Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries in Split. After defending his master’s thesis, he simultaneously started working for FAO as a country representative in MEDRAP. After 12 years working for FAO and the Institute, where he worked as a manager in aquaculture research facilities, he moved to the USA working first as technical director and then as director of research and development for Integrated Food Technology Inc., an aquaculture technology company. He designed the first commercial closed recirculating hatchery and fish nursery in the US and co-designed a commercial aquaponics facility that includes fish production in a closed aquaculture system, plant production based on aquaculture wastewater, and a fish processing facility with waste management that includes biogas production. In the RAS plant, six different types of fish were produced from the egg to the final product. As Director of Research and Development, he introduced yellow perch into commercial production. His team was one of the first to raise hybrid striped bass from eggs to market size in the RAS. In the US, he was elected as the representative of the state of Pennsylvania on the Technical and Advisory Council of the Northeast Regional Aquaculture Council, a body that evaluates research and development projects in aquaculture for US government institutions. In 2005, he returned to Croatia and accepted a position at the University of Dubrovnik, where he became a professor on three courses: Aquaculture Technology, New Technologies in Aquaculture and Design and Construction of Aquaculture Facilities. He was also the director of the university’s Center for Business Innovation in Mariculture, which he also co-designed. In the meantime, he worked as a consultant for several Croatian and international companies, working mainly on the design of aquaculture equipment and production systems. Prof Jug Dujaković is also a World Bank expert on the topic of aquaculture and the sea food market. He was selected as an expert on the topic of aquaculture and fisheries in the World Bank team for the formulation of the Multiannual Aquaculture Development Plan of Croatia (Strategic Transformation in Agriculture and Rural Space STARS RAS Mission) and a leader of the World Bank team for the Croatian Seafood Market Analysis. Prof. Jug Dujaković has published more than 200 scientific and professional papers, is the holder of two national patents and one internationally protected industrial design.
