Department: Working Group Coordinators

Bruno Fosso is Associate Professor in Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics at University of Bari Aldo Moro and co-lead of the ELIXIR-IT Tools platform. He obtained a PhD in Bioinformatics in 2014 at the University of Bari discussing a thesis about the deployment of a workflow for DNA-metabarcodingd data analysis. The metagenomic investigation of host-associated microbiomes and environmental prokaryotic communities is the main topic of his research activity and recently he is also working on the application of ML/AI approaches on microbiome data. He is an active member the BITS, SIBBM, ISCB and ELIXIR Microbiome Community. He is the author of about 60 papers in international journals (H-index 26, Citation ≥ 2,200).

Graziano Pesole is full professor of Molecular Biology in the University of Bari A. Moro and Associate Researcher of CNR-IBIOM, Director of “Consorzio Interuniversitario Biotecnologie (Trieste), Head of the Italian Node of ELIXIR, the European Research Infrastructure for Life Science.

Bibliometric facts: h-index: 87 (Google scholar), 80 (ResearchGate), 73 (Scopus); peer-reviewed publications: >400; sum of Times Cited without self-citations: >30,000, Scopus link: http://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.url?authorId=7005831630).

Graziano Pesole has since long carried out research activity in the fields of bioinformatics, comparative genomics and molecular evolution. His current research interests are focused on bioinformatics application for the management and analysis of next generation sequencing data, also at single-cell and spatial resolution.

He has developed several specialised databases and widely used analysis software and algorithms which are available as standalone software or through the web.

He leads a large interdisciplinary research group including molecular biologists, bioinformaticians and computer scientists.

He has been PI for several research projects funded by national (MIUR, CNR, Telethon, AIRC, AISM, ARISLA) and international (EU, NIH) agencies and currently leading several research projects funded by the Italian PNRR including the leadership of the Biocomputing spoke of the National Center for Gene Therapy and Drugs based on RNA technology (Total budget of the last 10 years: >10M€). He also filed several international patents.

He is member of the Editorial Board of several high-profile journals, and co-author of books on Bioinformatics, Genomics and Molecular Biology published by Italian (Zanichelli, Ambrosiana, Gnocchi) and international (Wiley) editors.

Agustín Riscos Núñez obtained his PhD degree in 2004 at Universidad de Sevilla. Since 2024, he serves as Full professor at the Department of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence of Universidad de Sevilla. He is member of the Direction Board of the “Smart Computer systems Research and Engineering Lab (SCORE)” unit of excellence, head of the “Research Group on Natural Computing (RGNC)”, founding researcher and member of the Direction Board of the “Research Institute of Computer Engineering (I3US)” at Universidad de Sevilla, Spain. In addition, he is one of the founding members of the “International Membrane Computing Society (IMCS)”, and IEEE Senior Member.

His main areas of expertise are bio-inspired computing (especially membrane computing) and artificial intelligence. His research interests mainly focus on computational complexity theory and computational modelling of complex systems, digital twins, and population dynamics in ecology, as well as other practical applications in the fields of artificial intelligence, bioinformatics, biomedicine, high performance computing and robotics. In particular, his group has experience in research towards the development of theoretical models accompanied by software simulation tools for prevention, control and decision making related to endangered species or exotic invasive species.

PhD in Biology from the University of Cádiz in 2016. Currently a researcher at the Spanish National Research Council.

Founding member of the European chapter of the Ecological Forecasting Initiative, aiming to advance the science and applications of forecasts.

Director of 3 long-term biodiversity monitoring initiatives (on plants in heathlands and soil invertebrates in the Kalahari Desert).

Research integrates long-term data on plants and animals with advanced statistical and mechanistic models to predict how populations in drylands respond to extremes and human pressures.

Author of 50 peer-reviewed papers.

Animal ecologist with a primary focus on terrestrial ecosystems and poikilotherm organisms,
specialising in ecophysiology, metabolism, and species interactions, the development of
mechanistic ecological models, and addressing the effects of climate change and other
anthropogenic disturbances on poikilotherms.

Post-doctoral researcher at BIOME Lab Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna. Michele Lussu is a botanist with research focused on plant ecology, biogeography, and conservation. His work investigates spatial and temporal patterns of orchid distribution to support effective biodiversity conservation strategies, and to contribute to effective strategies for biodiversity conservation.

Daniel Crespo holds PhD in Biosciences, specialisation in Marine Ecology, by the University of Coimbra since 2017. He has been working in the cumulative effects of global changes, including thermal and salinity stresses, introduced species and biodiversity shifts, in the ecosystem functioning of estuarine systems. After working with LifeWatch ERIC, he is now an auxiliary researcher in CESAM-University of Aveiro, within project A-AAGORA (Horizon Europe), working on cross-sectoral cooperation for restoration of marine and coastal ecosystems and increased climate resilience through transformative innovation

Bruna R. F. Oliveira is an environmental engineer and technologist bridging soil sciences, ecosystem fluxes, and remote sensing to develop nature-based solutions for ecosystem restoration and climate resilience. Her academic foundation includes a Ph.D. in Environmental Technology from Wageningen University (2017) and an M.Sc. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Aveiro (2009).
Throughout her career, Bruna engaged in interdisciplinary research projects addressing critical environmental challenges, such as the indirect effects of wildfires on carbon fluxes, enhancing training and employability in wildfire management, engineering the sponge function of pasture soils to combat desertification, assessing innovative solutions like geotubes and mycotechnosoil to prevent erosion and enhance restoration of burnt forests, developing global models to predict post-fire ecosystem fluxes using remotely sensed data, and modelling wetland restoration impacts on carbon pathways and climate resilience.
In 2024, Bruna was honoured with the Belmiro de Azevedo Foundation prize for biodiversity conservation through the CCforBio project, which focuses on introducing conservation corridors in forest plantations.
Bruna is building a scientific career grounded in a commitment to ecosystem restoration and conservation, advancing environmental knowledge through interdisciplinary research while shaping practical strategies for ecosystem conservation and sustainable land use.

Ana Sousa holds a PhD in Biology (specialisation in Ecology) from University of Lisbon, Portugal (2010). She is currently an Assistant Professor at CESAM-Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, Department of Biology, University of Aveiro (UAveiro), PT. She has focused her research on coastal wetlands resilience and long-term spatio-temporal changes due to climate change, natural/human-driven threats (e.g., non-indigenous species); coastal wetlands (seagrass and salt marsh) restoration (Portugal and Denmark), conservation/management through transdisciplinary approaches to answer scientific/societal challenges. Her research has also included ecosystem services and habitats mapping, specially for coastal areas, and blue carbon assessment. Currently, she coordinates at UAveiro the project REWRITE (Horizon Europe), which focuses on the REWilding and Restoration of Intertidal Sediment Ecosystems for Carbon Sequestration, Climate Adaptation and Biodiversity Support (DOI:10.3030/101081357), and the Project CAPTA – Climate Neutrality: Blue Carbon role in the coast of Portugal and Galicia (Interreg VI-A España-Portugal (POCTEP)). She is a team member of the projects LifeSeagrassRiaWild (LIFE+), RESTORE4Cs, A-AAGORA (both Horizon Europe). She coordinated the projects BioPradaRia (MAR2020/EMFF), MARSH-C-LEVEL and C-GRASS (OHMI/CNRS). AI Sousa participated in International scientific workshops/networks (e.g. TeaCompositionH2O, iSBio Consortium (SoilTeaBag) as UAveiro site coordinator); she is part of networks performing long-term research/monitoring (LTER-PT&Europe), contributing to worldwide databases. Overall, she participated in over 30 R&D Inter/national projects (e.g. PORBIOTA – LifeWatch PT node) focused on wetland ecology and conservation, biodiversity and coastal management. She was a Seagrass Bioregional Co-Leader of IUCN SSS Group & Red List Authority (2020-2022); a Review Editor – Frontiers in Marine Science (Marine Ecosystem Ecology). Participated in outreach activities as organiser/invited speaker. Ana Sousa has (co)authored several ISI papers, book chapters, technical reports, and contributed to presentations at international/national conferences. ORCID ID (0000-0003-0783-5177).

Heliana Teixeira is a marine benthic ecologist, with a PhD in Biology, specialty Ecology from University of Coimbra (PT), with training at University of Murcia (SP), AZTI Foundation (SP) and Southern California Coastal Water Research Project SCCWRP (USA). Since 2016, she is an assistant researcher at the Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM) and the Dept. Biology at the University of Aveiro (PT), leading the Ecosystem Management and Conservation Research Group. In the past she worked at the IMAR Marine Research Institute (PT) and the EU COM JRC Joint Research Centre (IT). Her research focuses on environmental quality assessment, investigating pressure-response relationships to reverse the negative impacts of anthropogenic disturbances, namely of biological invasions and climate change, in coastal and marine ecosystems. She has particular interest in the use and development of ecological indicators and assessment tools and on the mobilisation of biodiversity FAIR data through public repositories. Her interests also include socio-ecological research for understanding biodiversity links to ecosystem services, using participatory processes to engage stakeholders and integrate local ecological knowledge. Long experience in international expert groups on the domains of Water and Marine Strategy, with several studies highlighted as relevant Science for Policy denoted in her Sage Policy profile. Currently she is part of the EU Water Directive ECOSTAT WG on nutrients and other physical-chemical elements in support of good ecological status, and of COST Action InsectAI Using Image-based AI for Insect Monitoring & Conservation. She also collaborates with the EU COM JRC for developing research tools for non-indigenous and invasive species and with LifeWatch ERIC, through PORBIOTA the Portuguese e-Infrastructure for Information and Research on Biodiversity. She participated in more than 20 R&D projects, co-authoring many scientific publications as well as books, guidance and technical reports. She currently participates in HEU projects GES4SEAS (2022-26) and B-CUBED (2023-26) and collaborates in the HEU projects A-AAGORA, RESTORE4C’s, REDRESS and LIFE SeaGrassRIAwild. She is an active member of InvECO the Portuguese network for the study and management of invasive alien species of the Portuguese Ecological Society, and Specialty Chief Editor of Frontiers in Marine Science in Marine Ecosystems Ecology. ORCID iD 0000-0001-8525-9967.