The Starfish Team

Editions
2026 2025
The 2026 Starfish Barometer brings together 29 experts from 14 countries to provide an integrated view of the Ocean–Humanity system. This expanded international scientific committee responds to the need for interdisciplinary approaches to better understand ocean change and its societal implications.
Building on its first release at the United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) in 2025, the Starfish Barometer confirms its role as a recurring scientific tool at the interface between ocean science, policy, and society.
The Project Leadership

The 2026 edition is led under a dual governance model combining scientific excellence and operational delivery: Dr Marina Lévy (CNRS), Chair of the Scientific Committee, alongside co-chair Dr Karina von Schuckmann (Mercator Ocean International), while Pierre Bahurel (Director General, Mercator Ocean International) oversees operational implementation.
Pierre Bahurel, France - Mercator Ocean International Pierre Bahurel is the Director General of Mercator Ocean, the European centre for global Ocean monitoring and forecasting. He is committed to digital Oceanography serving Ocean sustainability, as achieved with the EU's Copernicus Marine. Under his leadership, Mercator Ocean is becoming an intergovernmental organization, advancing Digital Twin Ocean infrastructures, and mobilizing the international prediction community.

Marina Lévy, France - Sorbonne Université, LOCEAN-IPSL, CNRS/IRD/MNHN
Marina Lévy is the director of the Sorbonne University Alliance Ocean Institute. She received her PhD in Oceanography from Sorbonne University in 1996 and is an active research scientist working at the LOCEAN-IPSL Ocean and Climate Laboratory in Paris, France. Her work focusses on the interactions between turbulent ocean currents and marine biology, with the ultimate goal of improving model projections of ocean stressors in response to climate change. She is deeply engaged in public awareness and corporate outreach on ocean-related challenges. 

Karina von Schuckmann, France - Mercator Ocean International
Karina von Schuckmann is a senior advisor in the scientific direction of Mercator Ocean international. Her research interest lies in understanding the role of the Ocean in Earth’s climate and the Earth energy balance. She is the Director of the Copernicus Ocean State Report, IPCC AR7 author, member of the Group of Experts for the World Ocean Assessment #4, member of the European Academy of Science, laureate of the French Academy of Science in 2023, and laureate of the Petersen Excellence Professorship in 2025.

Mahé Butel, France - Coordinator
Mahé Butel is the coordinator for the Starfish Barometer. Her work and interests focus on facilitating transdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration to strengthen knowledge uptake and support evidence-based approaches to sustainability, ocean health, and resilience.
The Authors

The 2026 Starfish Barometer is developed by a multidisciplinary team of scientists contributing expertise across oceanography, climate science, ecology, and the social sciences. Their work synthesizes the latest peer-reviewed research and major international assessments to provide a coherent, science-based understanding of ocean change and its interactions with human systems.
Authors may appear across multiple branches — their bio is listed under their primary branch, with details on their contributions shown under each branch. 
OCEAN STATE
Thomas L. Frölicher, Switzerland - Ocean State Branch Leader
Thomas Frölicher is a professor at the University of Bern, where he leads the Ocean Modeling Group and serves as Deputy Head of the Climate and Environmental Physics Division. His research focuses on ocean-climate-carbon interactions, especially extreme events and tipping points in the marine system. He is the Coordinating Lead Author of Chapter 8 on tipping points in the upcoming IPCC AR7 WGI report.

Janine Adams, South Africa
Prof Adams is a distinguished professor at the Nelson Mandela University, Deputy Director of the Institute for Coastal and Marine Research and holds the Department of Science and Innovation/National Research Foundation Research Chair (SARChI) for Shallow Water Ecosystems. Her current research focuses on the conservation and management of estuaries.

Bruno Blanke, France
Dr. Bruno Blanke, CNRS research director at LOPS in Brest, specializes in Ocean circulation and developed the ARIANE diagnostic tool. Formerly Deputy Scientific Director for the Ocean-Atmosphere domain at CNRS-INSU, he now assists the CNRS Lead Scientific Coordinator for Sorbonne University and co-leads the national Priority Research Program "Ocean & Climate".

Lijing Cheng, China
Dr. Lijing Cheng received his PhD from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 2014. He is currently a professor in Intitute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. His work includes examination of instrumental bias in ocean temperature observations, study of historical ocean heat content change, Earth's energy budget and water cycle.

Pierre Friedlingstein, France/UK
Professor Pierre Friedlingstein is an Officer of the WCRP Joint Scientific Committee. Pierre is a Fellow of the Royal Society, he holds a Chair in Mathematical Modelling of the Climate System at the University of Exeter and is also Research Director at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France. His research interests are in the field of global biogeochemical cycles and their role in the climate system.

Yunne-Jai Shin, France
Senior researcher at IRD, Yunne Shin is an expert in cutting-edge marine ecosystem modelling to support decision-making. She also develops transdisciplinary approaches, including participatory co-construction of scenarios and models, and arts and science co-creation.

Aimée Slangen, Netherlands
Dr. Aimée Slangen is research leader at the Royal Netherlands Insititute for Sea Research (NIOZ) and Senior Fellow at Utrecht University. She specialises in regional sea-level change in the recent past and the future, focusing on the different contributors to sea-level change and how they respond to climate change.

Patrick Vincent, France
Dr. Patrick Vincent is a recognized expert on Ocean observation from space and his dedication to space altimetry before leading IFREMER as the Deputy General Manager. Since 1995, being part of the Mercator Ocean initiating team, he participated actively in the development of operational Oceanography.

HUMAN PRESSURES
William Cheung, Canada - Human Pressures Branch Leader
Dr. William Cheung is a Professor and Director of the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries at the University of British Columbia. He studies the nexus of food-climate-biodiversity in the ocean and is an international leader in developing and using scenarios and models to explore solution options and pathways to desirable and sustainable Ocean futures.

Diva Amon, Trinidad and Tobago
Diva Amon is a Caribbean marine biologist focused on the little-known habitats and animals of the deep ocean and how our actions are impacting them. She is the director of the non-profit NGO, SpeSeas, in Trinidad y Tobago. She works at the nexus of science, policy, and communication and has a desire to see greater stewardship of the deep ocean as well as engagement of a broader group of humankind towards this effort.

Jorge Cortés, Costa Rica
Jorge Cortés is a researcher at the Center for Research in Marine Sciences and Limnology (CIMAR) and Professor Emeritus at the School of Biology, University of Costa Rica. He has Ph.D. in marine biology from the University of Miami, Florida. He has over 40 years of experience in the study of the ecology of the main tropical coastal-marine ecosystems: coral reefs, seagrasses and mangroves.

Jean-Pierre Gattuso, France
Jean-Pierre Gattuso is emeritus CNRS Scientist at Sorbonne University and the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations. He studies the effects of global change on marine ecosystems and their services. He also investigates ocean-based solutions to mitigate and adapt to climate change. He coedited the first book on ocean acidification and contributed to several IPCC products (AR5 and AR6).

Stefan Gelcich, Chile
Stefan Gelcich is a marine biologist and an Assistant Professor at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. His studies are principally focused on subtidal ecology, the interactions between ecological and social systems in coastal zones, conservation and sustainable management of marine resources, and analysis of public policies aimed at managing natural resources.

Audrey Hasson, France 
Audrey Hasson is the executive director of GEO Blue Planet, an initiative hosted by Mercator Ocean International and funded by the European Union to promote the use of Ocean observations for the benefit of society. She holds a Ph.D. in physical Oceanography, specialized in remote sensing.

Daoji Li, China
Dr. Daoji Li is a Counselor of the Shanghai Municipal Government, Professor of State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, Director of Institute of Plastic Cycle and Innovation, East China Normal University. He is also the Chairman of Shanghai Society of Limnology and Oceanography, Director of UNESCO-IOC Regional Training and Research Center on Plastic Marine Debris and Microplastics, Member of Science and Technology Committee of China Ministry of Education, Member of UNEP Scientific Advisory Committee on Marine Litter and Microplastics.

SOCIETAL HARMS

Branch Leader

Patrice Guillotreau (France)
Contributors: Tamatoa Bambridge (French Polynesia), William Cheung (Canada), Sanae Chiba (Canada/Japan), Stefan Gelcich (Chile), Audrey Hasson (France), Claire Jolly (France)
Patrice Guillotreau, France - Societal Harms Branch Leader Dr. Patrice Guillotreau, formerly professor of economics at Nantes University for two decades, is senior researcher at IRD. His research lies on the economics and management of Oceanic fisheries and the blue economy more generally, with special focus on the vunerability of small island developing states to global changes.

Tamatoa Bambridge, French Polynesia
Tamatoa Bambridge is a CNRS sociologist and specialist in Rāhui. Since 1995, he has been analyzing the expression of legal and cultural pluralism in land and maritime management practices in the Pacific. In 2001, he defended a thesis on land claims in the Austral Islands, then pursued his career in the field of environmental anthropology.

PROTECTION EFFORTS
Joachim Claudet, France - Protections Efforts Branch Leader Dr. Joachim Claudet, researcher director and Ocean advisor for CNRS, has extensive experience in Ocean sustainability science, using place-based case studies to inform management, or regional to global meta-analyzes to impact policy. His work is highly interdisciplinary, bridging ecology, social sciences, and governance to develop actionable knowledge for decision-makers.

Sanae Chiba, Canada/Japan
Sanae Chiba is the Deputy Executive Secretary of PICES. She is an advocate of international collaboration in ocean science and communication across scientific disciplines. She was on secondment to the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre in the UK from 2016-2019, where she learnt practical methods to apply to the science-policy interface and its importance in marine social science.

Cynthia Barzuna, Costa Rica
Cynthia Barzuna is the Global Deputy Director of the Ocean Program at the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the Director of the Ocean Action 2030 coalition. In her role as Deputy Director, she provides strategic leadership on WRI’s global ocean initiatives, including spearheading the 100% Alliance and overseeing the Ocean Finance workstream.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR HUMANITY
Peter Haugan, Norway - Opportunities for Humanity Branch Leader Peter M Haugan is policy director at Institute of Marine Research, Norway and professor at the Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen, Norway. He is presently Chair of JPI Oceans (Joint Programming Initiative Healthy and Productive Seas and Oceans). He has more than 30 years of experience in marine scientific research and international ocean science coordination covering ocean, climate and energy issues.

Jessica Gephart, USA Jessica Gephart is an Assistant Professor in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. Her research focuses on the intersection of seafood globalization and environmental change, evaluating how seafood trade drives distant environmental impacts, as well as how environmental shocks disrupt seafood trade. Her work brings together global trade data, local consumption data, and environmental impact data to understand the opportunities and risks of seafood globalization for sustainable production and food security.

Deborah Greaves, United Kingdom Deborah Greaves is Statutory Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Oxford, and one of the UK’s leading offshore renewable energy researchers. In a career spanning more than two decades, she has consistently pioneered the development of new technologies in offshore wind, wave and tidal power. This has included novel types of wave energy converter, analysis methods for offshore renewable energy farms and extreme wave-structure interactions.

Claire Jolly, France 
Claire Jolly is Head of the Ocean Economy & Space Economy (IPSO Unit) at the OECD, leading research and analysis to inform evidence-based policy. With over 20 years’ experience in science, innovation, and economic policy, she is committed to advancing the long-term sustainability of ocean and space sectors.

Mere Takoko, New Zealand Mere is a Māori conservationist driving transformative change in ocean conservation and finance. She is a co-founder and CEO of the Pacific Whale Fund and Moananui Sanctuary Trust, which aims to restore 1 million cetaceans to the Pacific Ocean and establish vital safe havens for whales. Other notable initiatives include the Te Mana o te Tohorā Whale Legal Personhood project and WhaleARC ™.

Olivier Thébaud, France Dr. Olivier Thébaud is a senior economist with IFREMER. He works as part of the AMURE joint research unit in marine social science, which he helped establish and directed. His research focuses on applying economics, in connection with other disciplines, to inform marine policy at national and international levels.

Adrien Vincent, France Adrien Vincent is a senior advisor to the International Platform for Ocean Sustainability (IPOS). Adrien is the founder of Albatros Advisory, an advisory boutique specialised in the Ocean sustainability space. He also advises the European Commission and the United Nations on their seaweed programs and works with Ocean impact funds and startups.