Principal Investigators

Glaucia Fragoso is a researcher from the Centre of Autonomous Marine Systems and Operations (AMOS) at Dept. of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Dr. Fragoso is funded by the the Young Research Talent grant (Norwegian Research Council, Project number 315514). Dr. Fragoso has experience with pigments, plankton taxonomy, bio-optics, photo-physiology and has published several research papers related to biological measurements using autonomous approaches.

Geir Johnsen is a professor in marine biology, key scientist in the AMOS at Dept. of Biology, NTNU, holds a Prof. II position at University Studies at Svalbard (UNIS). Prof. Johnsen’s role in the project is to host his laboratory and provide the equipment necessary for data collection, in addition to providing knowledge and expertise in bio-optics and photo-physiology research.

Martin Ludvigsen is a professor in marine technology, Dept. of Marine Technology (NTNU) and the leader of the Applied Underwater Robotics laboratory (AUR-Lab, NTNU).  Prof. Ludvigsen will offer the infrastructure of NTNU AUR-Lab, and will assist with engineering support in the project.

Ana Borrero Santiago is the environmental research coordinator at Seaweed Solution, which is one of the companies pioneering macroalgal cultivation in Europe and the R&D provider for MoniTARE. Dr. Borrero is a chemical oceanographer and expert in environment risk assessment and ocean acidification studies. Dr. Borrero will provide personnel assistance in the field and the seaweed wet biomass estimations using conventional approaches for validation of the in situ data.

Duncan Purdie is a professor of Biological Oceanography in Ocean and Earth Science at the University of Southampton (UK). Prof. Purdie will provide laboratory support for the analysis of phytoplankton samples through the CytoSense flow cytometer and assist in the data analysis.