Joana Alfaro Shigueto, Ph.D.

Joana Alfaro Shigueto is one of the foremost international experts on the biology and protection of marine megafauna species, including sea turtles, cetaceans, sea birds, marine otters and sharks.

She studied Biology at Universidad Ricardo Palma and received her Ph.D. from the University of Exeter, UK in 2012. Joana’s research focuses on marine conservation and small-scale fisheries, and she is the co-founder and current President of the NGO ProDelphinus, one of the most well-known conservation organizations in Peru where she resides.

She is also a faculty member of Universidad Científica del Sur, where she continues to mentor the new generation of Peruvian marine researchers and has helped mentor MSc students from Exeter Conservation Masters Programme.

Joana has been a Global fellow at the Duke Marine Laboratory and is the recipient of several awards including the Whitley Award for Nature, the Marsh Award for Marine Conservation Leadership in Latin America and the Conservation Award Carlos Ponce as Artifice de la Conservacion.

Joana is a member of the IUCN Specialist Groups of Cetaceans, Turtles, Otters, Sharks and Signatids and has served as President of the International Sea Turtle Society. She has authored and collaborated on over one hundred and fifty peer-reviewed publications.

Kartik Shanker, Ph.D.

Kartik was inspired to a career in ecology by an ancient reptile, an olive ridley turtle that crawled ashore late one night in Madras.

As faculty at the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, he works on the ecology and evolution of terrestrial and marine fauna. His group works on the biogeography of herpetofauna and grouping behaviour in birds and reef fish.

He has also established long-term monitoring programmes for sea turtles and sharks along the Indian coast. Kartik is a founding trustee of Dakshin Foundation, where he oversees work on marine flagships and community wellbeing, and a founding editor of the magazine, Current Conservation.

He is the author of the book From Soup to Superstar, a historical account of sea turtle conservation in India, and several children’s books including Turtle Story, The Adventures of Philautus Frog, Moonlight in the Sea, and Lori’s Magical Mystery.