Plenary speakers

Dr. Philip Hulme

Philip Hulme is a distinguished professor of plant biosecurity at Lincoln University New Zealand known for his pioneering work on the concept of One Biosecurity, which integrates human, animal, plant, and environmental health to address biosecurity threats comprehensively. His interdisciplinary approach emphasizes the interconnectedness of these sectors to effectively prevent and mitigate the impacts of invasive alien species. Hulme’s work has been instrumental in highlighting the need for a unified biosecurity strategy that transcends traditional boundaries, aiming to protect global health and biodiversity from the increasing risks posed by biological invasions.

Dr. Petr Pysek

Petr Pyšek is a senior research scientist and Head of the Department of Invasion Ecology at the Institute of Botany, Czech Academy of Sciences, and Professor of Ecology at Charles University in Prague. His research interests cover a broad range of issues related to biological invasions, including the role of macroecological drivers and their context dependence, global biogeography of alien floras, mechanisms of species invasiveness, habitat invasibility, conceptualization of invasion process, and impact of alien species. He has published over 500 papers in journals registered at Web of Science that have received over 60,000 citations. Since 2014, he has been regularly listed among the Highly Cited Researchers in Environment and Ecology (Clarivate Web of Science). He led many large national projects and served as a partner in several EU projects. In the last decade, he co-founded the GloNAF (Global Naturalized Alien Floras) database that allowed for revisiting and testing many invasion hypotheses, and recently he also contributed to the IPBES report on biological invasions. Since 1999, he has served as the Editor-in-Chief of Preslia, the journal of the Czech Botanical Society, and in 2017, he founded the Alien Floras and Faunas section of the journal Biological Invasions. He has received prestigious national and international awards, including Robert H. Whittaker Distinguished Ecologist Award from the Ecological Society of America (2017), Alfred Russel Wallace Award from the International Biogeography Society (2021), and the Czech Head National Award (2022).

Dr. Piero Genovesi

Piero Genovesi, has a PhD in animal ecology, is head of the Italian wildlife service with the Institute for Environmental Protection and Research – ISPRA, and chairs the IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group. Research Associate with the Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, and is International Science Advisor for the Centre for Invasion Biology, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. Since 2013 he resides on the Steering Committee of the Species Survival Commission of IUCN. Main area of activity is on invasive species and related policy-making, he co-authored the European Strategy on Invasive Alien Species. Considered among the most influential environmental researchers worldwide, he has published over 200 scientific articles and books, and in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022, he was included in the list of the world’s Highly Cited Researchers. On the topic of invasive species, Piero Genovesi has close collaborations with all the main international institutions, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, the European Union, the FAO and the Bern Convention. Piero Genovesi is also active in science dissemination, in 2024 he published a book on alien species and has written two children’s books, one awarded “Book for the Environment” in 2019.