Simon Jungblut is a marine ecologist and zoologist. After completing a bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry at the University of Bremen, Germany, he studied the international program Erasmus Mundus Master of Science in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at the Universities of Bremen, the University of Oviedo, Spain, and Ghent University, Belgium. Afterwards, he completed a PhD project entitled: “Ecology and ecophysiology on invasive and native decapod crabs in the southern North Sea” at the University of Bremen in cooperation with the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven and was awarded the doctoral title in natural sciences at the University of Bremen in December 2017. Since 2015, Simon is actively contributing to the YOUMARES conference series. After hosting some conference sessions, he is the main organizer of the scientific program since 2017.Viola Liebich is a biologist from Berlin, who worked on invasive tunicates forher Diploma thesis at the Alfred Wegener Institute Sylt. With a PhD scholarship by the International Max Planck Research School for Maritime Affairs, Hamburg, and after her thesis work at the Institute for Hydrobiology and Fisheries Science, Hamburg, and the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Texel, the Netherlands, she finished her thesis "Invasive Plankton: Implications of and for ballast water management" in 2013. For three years, until 2015, Viola Liebich worked for a project on sustainable brown shrimp fishery and stakeholder communication at the WWF Center for Marine Conservation and started her voluntary YOUMARES work one year later. In 2017 she also became elected member of the DGM steering group. She is currently working as a self-employed consultant on marine and maritime management (envio maritime).
Maya Bode is a marine biologist, who accomplished her Bachelor of Science in biology at the University of Göttingen, Germany, and her Master of Science in Marine Biology at the University of Bremen, Germany. Thereafter, she completed her PhD thesis entitled „Pelagic biodiversity and ecophysiology of copepods in the eastern Atlantic Ocean: Latitudinal and bathymetric aspects“ at the University of Bremen in cooperation with the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven and the German Center for Marine Biodiversity Research (DZMB) at the Senckenberg am Meer in Wilhelmshaven. She received her doctorate in natural sciences at the University of Bremen in March 2016. Since 2016, Maya is a board member of the German Society for Marine Research (DGM) and actively contributes to the YOUMARES conference series as organizer of the scientific program.