Key teaching staff

Key teaching staff involved in the Erasmus Plus Joint Master in AquaCulture, Environment and Society-STAR (ACES-STAR) programme are:

Professor Michalis Pavlidis

Professor Pavlidis (Programme Leader, University of Crete) has an international reputation for research on aquaculture-fish physiology/endocrinology related issues (30 years) and over 25 years lecturing and teaching experience at under-graduate and post-graduate lecturing levels. He has supervised 6 PhD thesis, 40 MSc thesis, 30 BSc Diploma thesis students and 36 internships/placements in the Fish Physiology Lab at UoC. He has published 76 peer-reviewed papers and more than 110 extended abstracts and presentations at International and National Conferences, two edited books, and four book chapters on aquaculture-related topics. He has been actively involved (either as co-ordinator or principle investigator) in 28 European, Bilateral or National competitive R&D projects and in 5 research networks related to aquaculture. He is currently Chairperson of the Department of Biology. Since March 2017, is a National Representative at the SCAR (Standing Committee on Agricultural Research) FISH Strategic Working Group. Since 2019, is a deputy National Representative, Mission Area “Soil earth & Food” and expert, Management Committee “Food security, Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry, Marine and Maritime and Inland Water Research, and the bioeconomy”, Horizon 2020.

Professor Elizabeth (Liz) Cottier-Cook
Professor Cottier (EMJM ACES-STAR Programme Partner, UHI-SAMS) has an international reputation for research on aquaculture-related issues (25 years), and over 20 years teaching experience at under-graduate and post-graduate levels, including supervision of research degrees. She has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers including a book and four book chapters on aquaculture-related topics.

She has previously managed a £6M UKRI programme, 2 EU projects concerning the impacts of aquaculture and the development of new species for aquaculture and led 2 UK-wide projects on marine invasive species and been involved in a NERC International Overseas Fund Global Seaweed Programme, a Marie Curie Training Network on algal diseases and pathogens and has recently been awarded £750,000 by DEFRA (GCBC) for a 3 year project (2023-26) looking to secure the future of wild seaweeds stocks, whilst securing livelihoods and resilience to climate change. She is also a member of the FAO Technical Working Group on Progressive Pathway Management for Aquaculture Biosecurity.

Professor Peter Beninger
Professor Beninger (Nantes University, Programme Partner) is a marine ecologist (45 years) whose work has included aquaculture and human impact on littoral ecosystems. He has published approximately 110 primary publications, including some very highly-cited papers on aquaculture. His work encompasses all levels of living organisms, from the molecular to the ecosystem, and all metazoan ecosystem components, from meiofauna to shorebirds, with an emphasis on cultured bivalve species or their competitors / predators, in addition to works on statistical usage and spatial analysis.

Professor Laurent Barillé
Professor Laurent Barillé (Nantes University, Programme Partner) has an international reputation for research (35 years) on bivalve physiology-modelling and remote-sensing of shellfish ecosystems. He has over 35 years of teaching experience, published 90 peer-reviewed papers and supervised 15 PhD students. He has also been involved in over 30 international, national, and regional research projects on aquaculture. He is a member of the Remote Sensing and Benthic Ecology group within the laboratory ISOMer. This laboratory studies the structure and functioning of estuarine and coastal ecosystems. He was involved in EU projects about assessing and planning aquaculture sustainability (TAPAS), using satellite remote sensing to monitor coastal water quality and biodiversity (CoastObs & BiCOME), and more recently drone mapping aquaculture structures and products.

Module leaders

The teaching team on the EMJM ACES-STAR have considerable teaching – over 115 years combined which includes new innovative digital teaching methods, plus supervisory experience at post-graduate level (over 90 students).