Organisation

Francesca BOSELLINI (Modena, Italy), President
I'm Professor of Paleontology at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Modena, Italy). Since I was a student I have always been fascinated by the coral reef ecosystem and later, as a paleontologist, I dedicated myself to reconstruct its evolution in the geological record. My research interests include: the Systematics of Cenozoic scleractinian corals and their functional morphology, the paleoecological reconstruction of Mediterranean Cenozoic coral reef systems, the study of biodiversity patterns and biomineralization processes to understand the response of tropical corals to past major Earth System paleogeographic and paleoclimatic changes. I like fieldwork and I'm always curious to discover new outcrops around the world.

Jaroslaw STOLARSKI (Warsaw, Poland), Vice-President
Why corals form calcium carbonate skeleton at greatest ocean depths where calcium carbonate easily dissolves? Why do corals form the skeleton at all? Is the coral skeleton a climate or/and coral physiology archive? Why (and if) corals are masters of reef formation? More questions than answers. Corals are not "simple animals" and that's why I love them!

Markus ARETZ (Toulouse, France), Secretary/Treasurer
I am an assistant professor at the University of Toulouse (France), where I teach palaeontology, carbonate sedimentology and field geology. My research interests cover different aspects of the evolution of the geosphere and biosphere, with a focus on the upper Palaeozoic. This results in broad interests in fields like carbonate sedimentology, coral taxonomy, palaeobiology, palaeo(bio)geography, palaeodiversity, stratigraphy, and basin analysis. One of my long-time favorites are Carboniferous reefs.

Wolfgang KIESSLING (Erlangen, Germany), website
I am fascinated by the volatile record of coral reefs through the ages. Why is it that reefs are so sensitive to global change, whereas coral species can exist for millions of years sometimes even unscathed by mass extinctions? To address this and related large-scale questions in the geological history of reefs and its constructors, I develop and mine large databases such as the PaleoReef Database and the @PaleoDB.

Julien DENAYER (Liège, Belgium), elected council member
My main research focuses on Devonian and Carboniferous rugose corals, their evolution, palaeoecology, stratigraphy and palaeobiogeography. Moreover, I study their response to biotic crises, extinctions and recoveries, particularly in the Late Devonian. Working on corals also led me to be interested in the reefal environment and the development of reefs during the Devonian with a peculiar view on southern Belgium where Devonian reefs are so common and so beautiful. I also have a profound passion for regional and historical geology that provide a good context for the corals I study.

Nadia SANTODOMINGO (London, England), elected council member
I am a coral-reef scientist interested in the diversity, ecology and evolution of these highly diverse ecosystems. My main focus has been to improve our understanding of the origins and evolution of coral reefs on Earth. My investigations cover a broad spatial scale, with studies in the Caribbean and the Indo-Pacific (Coral Triangle) from shallow to deep-water habitats. My research involves also a broad temporal scale, as I develop multidisciplinary studies that link the history of ancient and modern reefs by using cutting-edge biogeographic, molecular and phylogenetic tools. By integrating fossils and modern coral taxa, I expect to obtain key information to predict how reefs are likely to respond to the current scenario of rapid climate change, and ultimately, to offer reliable advice to conservation agencies to protect these important ecosystems.

Graham YOUNG (Winnipeg, Canada), elected council member
I am the curator of geology and paleontology at the Manitoba Museum. Myresearch interests are the fossil record of jellyfish (cnidarian medusae) and other gelatinous zooplankton, as well as the taxonomy and paleoecology of Early Paleozoic colonial corals.

Ann BUDD (Iowa City, USA), elected council member
I am a professor emeritus at the University of Iowa. I am interested in scleractinian systematics, and the evolution of the Caribbean reef coral fauna from the Eocene until today. My research has involved using morphometrics to distinguish species and phylogenetics to determine evolutionary relationships.

Lewis JONES (Vigo, Spain), Early Career Researcher representative
I am a Palaeobiologist at the University of Vigo, Spain. My research focuses on understanding the drivers of temporal and spatial biodiversity patterns across various timescales. Primarily, my work focuses on scleractinian corals, reef systems, and other marine invertebrates. In my research, I use a range of computational techniques and integrate tools from various disciplines, including ecology and palaeoclimatology. A further area of my interest is the capacity of the fossil record to inform current conservation efforts. Can we learn from the geological past? Or is the past a foreign country?

Angelina IVKIC (Vienna, Austria), student representative
I am a PhD student at the University of Vienna conducting research on fossil corals from the last interglacial. I have been fascinated by the sea and its inhabitants since my earliest childhood and today I am excited to investigate past periods with warmer temperatures to make predictions about the future of coral reefs in the Red Sea.

Cristina KRAUSE (Erlangen, Germany), website