Prof. Eddie H. Allison is WorldFish’s Acting Director for Sustainable Aquatic Food Systems. He is an interdisciplinary scholar with over 30 years of academic and policy experience, who works closely with researchers across social and natural sciences and the humanities, as well as with stewards of natural resources in communities, civil society organizations, governments and the private sector. For three years running (2020-22), he was listed by Clarivate/Web of Science in the top 0.1 percent most cited of the world’s researchers in the cross-disciplinary category.

Dr. Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted is CGIAR’s Director of Nutrition, Health and Food Security Impact Area Platform and a world-renowned nutrition expert known for her pioneering work on nutrition-sensitive approaches to fisheries and aquaculture in Bangladesh, India, Cambodia, Zambia, among many other countries. She received the 2021 World Food Prize for her influential work on nutrition, fish and aquatic food systems. She is part of the High-Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) on Food Security and Nutrition as well as the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit Vice-Chair for Action Track 4: Advance Equitable Livelihoods.

Prof. Dato’ Dr. Aileen Tan Shau Hwai is a professor at the School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). Her field of expertise is in marine science, specializing in mariculture and the conservation of molluscs. She also serves as the Director of the Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies (CEMACS) USM, a member of the Board of Directors for Penang Institute, President of the Malaysian Fisheries Society, Vice Chairperson of the UNESCO/IOC Sub Commission for Western Pacific (WESTPAC) and Trustee of the Partnership for Observation of the Global Ocean Charitable Incorporated Organization (POGO). She is also part of the steering committee for international agencies such as CoastPredict, Ocean Corps and EquiSea. She was the first woman president of UNITAS Malacologica, serving between 2013 and 2016.

Prof. Dr. K. Kuperan a/l K.V.S.N. Viswanathan is a professor at the College of Arts and Sciences, Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM). He is a social scientist interested in the use of economics to improve policy making for enhancing welfare of people all over the world. He has over 30 years of experience teaching undergraduates and post-graduates in the university, research, research leadership and management, directorial and consulting experience in economics, management and development in both developed and developing countries. He has also coordinated and managed regional and international complex multidisciplinary research projects involving multiple stakeholders.

Dr. Illisriyani Ismail is a senior research officer at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). She did her doctorate at the University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom, specializing in fisheries economics. As a research officer at UPM, she has been active in research and advisory services for agencies like World Bank, Khazanah Research Institute, Malaysia Productivity Corporation, World Wildlife Fund, government agencies and others. Her research interests include agricultural economics, environmental issues and valuation of resources. Most of her research work investigates how developing countries can benefit from the use of natural resources in a sustainable way and helps countries to develop sustainably. It informs the implementation of policies that favour environmental protection while providing economic and social benefits.

Dr. Marleen Schutter is a postdoctoral research fellow at WorldFish and Ocean Nexus, University of Washington. Her work focuses on the discourse and political economy of defining and enacting sustainability transformations, such as the emergent blue economy. She is interested in the governance of equity and justice issues of such transformations, particularly for small-scale actors in food systems. Her current research seeks to identify avenues for the blue economy approach to become more equitable in the face of multiple competing interests, examining how power relations play a role in shaping governance across scales, and how they affect material conditions on the ground.

Chan Chin Yee is a scientist at WorldFish with eight years of experience in fish foresight modelling. Her research provides fisheries and aquaculture policy recommendations on a wide range of environmental and sustainability issues such as food security, climate change, employment, investment and trade in Southeast Asia, Africa and South Asia.