Speakers

Masahiro Nakaoka

Contribution of AP MBON to enhance science, education, and outreach of marine biodiversity studies in the Asia-Pacific region

Masahiro (Massa) Nakaoka is a professor at Hokkaido University and the director of Akkeshi Marine Station, Field Science Center for Northern Biosphere, Hokkaido University where he has been working since 2008.

Massa completed his PhD and undergraduate studies at the University of Tokyo. His research interests lie in marine ecology, ranging from basic subjects like plant-animal interactions in eelgrass beds to more applied ones like the evaluation of multiple ecosystem services from coastal ecosystems in Asia. He has collaborated activities with researchers in other countries, using Akkeshi Marine Station as a node of international network studies including ZEN (Zostera Experimental Network), GAME (Global Approach by Modular Experiments) and TSUNAGARI (Belmont Forum international project).

Massa has served on committees on international and Japanese academic societies and journals such as Steering Committee of World Seagrass Association (2012-2019), a Member of IUCN SSC Seagrass Specialist Group (2013-present), Editor-in-Chief of Ecological Research (2018-2019) and an Associate Editor of Estuaries and Coasts (2015-present). He has been a chair of AP MBON (Asia-Pacific Marine Biodiversity Observation Network) since 2019, and one of the co-chairs of MBON since 2020.

Aileen Tan

Marine Biodiversity Research at CEMACS and Empowering the Public Biodiversity Protection

Prof. Dato’ Dr Aileen Tan Shau Hwai is a Professor in the School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). She is a Fellow of Academy Science Malaysia. Currently, she is the Director of Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies (CEMACS) in USM, Executive Director of the Asia-Pacific University-Community Engagement Network (APUCEN) and Vice-Chair of IOC Western Pacific (WESTPAC). She has been elected as the first woman president of the 60-years old UNITAS Malacologica, which is based in Belgium, from 2013 to 2016. She is a Board member of Partnership for Observations of the Global Oceans (POGO). She also serves as an international steering committee and Co-Lead in several international organisations such as CoastPredict, EquiSea and Ocean Corps.

Her field of expertise is in marine science, specializing in mariculture and the conservation of molluscs. She is now actively encouraging the rural coastal communities in other states in Malaysia to culture oysters to promote “green aquaculture” as well as to create a sustainable income for the local communities, besides creating a balance between profit and environment protection.

She does not only help to transfer knowledge through supervising and guiding her students in marine science but has also transformed her expertise into sustainable use and translating knowledge to coastal communities, promoting capacity development. Her studies also focus on the biodiversity of marine invertebrates, particularly the responses of molluscs towards an acidic environment. She believes strongly in translational knowledge and benefitting the communities with research findings.

In 2020, she has been awarded the Top Research Scientist Award in Malaysia (TRSM) for her expertise in “Mariculture and Marine Ecology, Biodiversity & Conservation”. She is the Best Women Scientist for her work in guiding the women-folks in Johore Islands in earning their income through the giant clam conservation programme. She has initiated several Malaysian books of Records for her contribution to molluscan studies.

Moderator

Takehisa Yamakita

Takehisa (Take) Yamakita is a researcher of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) since 2012.

Take completed his PhD and undergraduate studies at the Chiba University and studied spatial-temporal dynamics of seagrass using remote sensing. As a postdoctoral researcher at Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute and the University of Tokyo, he began work to predict marine biodiversity over Japan and Asia to support conservation policy such as extraction of EBSA. Recently, he has worked on a project to evaluate and predict ecosystem services named PANCES (S-15), and a monitoring program for sea mountains on the deep sea. Take served committee member of AP BON (Asia-Pacific Biodiversity Observation Network) and secretary of AP MBON (Asia-Pacific Marine Biodiversity Observation Network).

We will continue with the Marine Biodiversity Networking Fridays during the next months. More information about future sessions as well as presentations and videos from previous sessions can be found here. Please do not forget to subscribe to our YouTube Channel.  Twitter Hashtag: #netfridays. Expect some very exciting mornings, afternoons or evenings, depending on where you are…

If you need any additional information please send an email to Jose Luiz Moutinho.