The ICOS Science Conference Programme Committee consists of experts from the community and contributes to the organisation of the conference programme.
Oksana Tarasova
Dr Oksana Tarasova is the Chief of the Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) Programme of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which provides an international framework for global observations and analysis of the atmospheric chemical composition changes in support of environmental conventions and services. Oksana obtained her PhD in Physics of the Atmosphere and Hydrosphere from Moscow State University in 1999. She has also been a member of the International Commission on Atmospheric Chemistry and Global Pollution (ICACGP) since 2015.
Socratis Loucaides
Dr Socratis Loucaides is Leader of Analytical Science in the Ocean Technology and Engineering at the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) in the UK. Holding a PhD from Utrecht University, Socratis's expertise lies in chemical oceanography and autonomous ocean observing. He leads a team of scientists developing novel technologies for monitoring and understanding ocean biogeochemistry. Socratis is the technical innovation expert of ICOS OTC (Ocean Thematic Centre) in Europe.
Martin Heimann
Prof Dr Martin Heimann is Emeritus Director at the Department of Biogeochemical Systems at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry. Martin is also a Research Director at the Division of Atmospheric Sciences, Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, Finland. Martin is a highly-cited researcher whose expertise encompasses biogeochemistry of the global carbon cycle, modeling and quantification of the interactions between the biogeochemical cycles and the physical climate system, and development of global, continental and regional observing systems for long-lived biogeochemical trace gases.
Rik Wanninkhof
Dr Rik Wanninkhof is a senior scientist at the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Miami FL, USA. He studies the oceanic inorganic carbon cycle with a focus on the anthropogenic perturbation thereof. He has done extensive research on the transfer of carbon dioxide across the air-water interface. Rik is a prominent member of the ICOS community, having served as a member of the ICOS Scientific Advisory board from 2016-2023.
Sanna Sorvari-Sundet
Dr Sanna Sorvari Sundet is Vice President of Research Infrastructure Services at the Natural Resources Institute Finalnd (LUKE). Sanna is a pre-eminent figure in the research infrastructure (RI) realm. Sanna was a member of ICOS ERIC set up team (2011 - 2015), and chaired the collaborative board of 24 European environmental RIs (ENVRI/BEERi) for eight years. Currently, she is participating in European RI work via ESFRI (European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures) Environmental Strategic Working Group.
Matthias Cuntz
Dr Matthias Cuntz is Research Director at France's National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE). Matthias's research interests include exchanges of energy, water and trace gases in terrestrial ecosystems, use of stable isotopes for process studies on the terrestrial biosphere, and global modelling of carbon and water and its stable isotopes.
Natalia Kowalska
Dr Natalia Kowalska is Associate Scientist at the Department of Matters and Energy Fluxes at the Institute for Global Change Research CAS – CzechGlobe. Natalia's research interests focus on the exchange of GHG fluxes between the ecosystem and the atmosphere taking into account especially micrometeorological aspects of within canopy and canopy-atmosphere exchange. She studies interactions between GHG fluxes and different environmental conditions to understand how the ecosystem responds on different climatic conditions. Natalia is also the Principal Investigator of ICOS station Lanžhot.
Jia Chen
Prof Dr Jia Chen is Professor of Environmental Sensing and Modeling at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) in the department of Electrical Engineering. In addition, she is an Associate at Harvard University. Jia Chen’s research focuses on climate change and urban air pollution. She develops novel optical sensors, methods, and atmospheric models to localize and quantify greenhouse gas emissions and to understand the metabolism of air pollutants in urban environments. She has established the first greenhouse gas sensor network with 5 city stations based on the novel method of differential column measurements. In the ICOS Cities project, Jia Chen serves as the Scientific Lead for the pilot city Munich and is the task lead for total column measurements.
Maryke van Staden
Maryke van Staden is Director of ICLEI's Bonn Center for Local Climate Action and Reporting (carbonn Climate Center). With a career spanning more than 30 years in national security, renewable energy and local climate action, Maryke oversees ICLEI's global climate and energy strategy - supporting 2.500 local and subnational governments around the globe. She guides accelerated and integrated climate action (mitigation, adaptation and resilience); the transition to 100% renewables; robust standards and quality of climate reporting; use of data and information to inform decision-making; enhanced multilevel governance and multilevel action, as well as enabling access to finance for implementation.
Dennis Ochuodho Otieno
Prof habil Dennis Otieno Ochuodho is a professor of Plant Ecology at the department of Biological Sciences and the acting Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academics and Research), Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology (JOOUST). He is a founder member of the Consortium for Research in East African Terrestrial Ecosystems (CREATE), a research and capacity building initiative providing a platform for training and ecosystem research in Eastern Africa. His interests include Plant Physiological Ecology and Ecosystem Research.
The Programme Committee also includes representatives from the ICOS Head Office - Dr Werner Kutsch (Director General) and Dr Sindu Raj Parampil (Science Integration Officer).
The work of the programme committee is supported by Dr Janne-Markus Rintala and Maiju Tiiri (ICOS Head Office organising team), Dr Leonard Rivier and Dr Marc Delmotte (LSCE local organising team).