Dr. Jürg Bloesch is a retired Senior Scientist and an Honorary Member of the International Association for Danube Research (IAD), for which he served as the National Representative (1995e1998), President (1998e2004), Editor ofDanube News (2006e12), and Mandatary for sturgeon conservation, hydropower, and navigation in the Danube River.Born in Switzerland and educated as a limnologist (hydrobiologist) at ETH Zürich, he worked at Eawag, Dübendorf (theSwiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology), from 1970 till 2005 as a Research Scientist and Consultant(e.g., projects in Estonia, North Macedonia, Romania, and Paraguay). He experienced sabbaticals in Canada (CCIWBurlington, 1978/79) and New Zealand (Hamilton, 1987). Key activities focused on lakes (sedimentation, sediment traps,eutrophication, and the pelagic food web), rivers (benthos, fish), river restoration (hydromorphology), and river basinmanagement. He published some 140 scientific papers and reports. As an active member of nine national and internationalprofessional associations and NGOs, he was and still is dedicated to environmental protection and nature conservation bybridging the gap between basic and applied science. Prof. Dr. Bernd Cyffka is a Full Professor of Applied Physical Geography at the Catholic University of Eichstätte Ingolstadt since 2005 and Head of Floodplain Institute NeuburgeIngolstadt since 2006. He is the President of IAD (InternationalAssociation for Danube Research; since 1.1.2022). He is a member of several national and international organizations and networks in the area of hydrology and river/floodplain ecology. His research interests are in the fields offloodplain ecology, restoration, ecosystem services, hydromorphology, and ecohydrology. He coauthored more than 50 publications in SCI journals; many conference proceedings, book chapters, and other scientific articles; and four books.Furthermore, he coedited 10 books. He was and is involved in several national and international projects, partly in leading positions, mainly in the Danube Catchment and Central Asia. Prof. Dr. Thomas Hein is a Full Professor at the Institute of Hydrobiology and Aquatic Ecosystem Management at the BOKU University, Vienna, since 2017 and was the Managing Director of the research institute WasserCluster Lunz from2008 to 2020. He was elected as the President of IAD (International Association for Danube Research) from 2011 to 2016.His research focus is on the aquatic ecology and biogeochemistry of riverine landscapes and targets these as socioecohydrologicalsystems. He leads the Christian Doppler Laboratory on Meta-Ecosystem Dynamics in Riverine Landscapes since 2021. He coordinated and was actively involved in several international and national projects and established cooperation with many international organizations, including NGOs, companies in the transport and energy production sector, and governmental organizations, such as the ICPDR (International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River). He authored more than 150 publications in SCI journals and more than 100 conference proceedings, book chapters,and other scientific articles. Dr. Cristina Sandu is an Expert in freshwater ecology, Member of the International Association for Danube Research (IAD) since 2002, and was the President of IAD between 2017 and 2021. Since 2009, she has represented the IAD within the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR), cooperating mainly on the Danube River Basin Management Plan, the key instrument for water management in the Danube Basin. Between 2012 and 2018, shecoordinated the establishment of the Danube Sturgeon Task Force and the implementation of the sturgeon conservation program (Sturgeon, 2020). She led the implementation of several projects and published over 50 articles and book chapters in international journals and conference proceedings and a children’s book depicting the challenges faced by fish communities in rivers and seas, translated to 10 languages. Her activity focuses on the freshwater quality in river and lake ecosystems and the effect of anthropogenic pressures, sturgeon/aquatic biodiversity conservation, the implementation of the water policy in the Danube Region, and environmental education. Dr. Nike Sommerwerk works as a senior expert at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin e Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science (MfN). She co-leads the research cluster “NaturBerlin on urban biodiversity change and sustainable management of biodiversity in large cities (under climate change). She is also a senior expert for Water and Biodiversity at Fresh Thoughts, a forward-thinking policy consultancy and deals here e.g., with behavioural aspects oftransformation. Dr. Sommerwerk is a German PhD Freshwater Ecologist with more than 20 (since 2002) years of research experience in the functioning, protection and quality classification of inland water ecosystems, human-ecosystem interactions and biodiversity monitoring. She is an expert in complex transboundary river management and planning, with emphasis on large rivers with a special focus on the Danube River Basin. She has moreover extensive expertise in strategic volunteer management, stakeholder participation and stakeholder engagement. Dr. Sommerwerk was also the scientific coordinator and core writing team member of the “International Water Quality Guidelines for Ecosystems e IWQGES forUN Environment. The adopted guidelines can be applied globally and provide governments with tools to assess, sustainably manage and protect their freshwater ecosystems and water resources. She gained her PhD at the Freie Universität Berlin (FU) and at the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB).
