Prof. Robert Watson,  Defra Chief Scientific Advisor, United Kingdom

Nitrogen, food security and global environmental change

Professor Watson’s career has evolved from research scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory: California Institute of Technology, to a US Federal Government programs manager/director at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), to a scientific/policy advisor in the US Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), White House, to a scientific advisor, manager and chief scientist at the World Bank, to a Chair of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia, the Director for Strategic Direction for the Tyndall centre, and Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. In parallel to his formal positions he has chaired, co-chaired or directed international scientific, technical and economic assessments of stratospheric ozone depletion, biodiversity/ecosystems (the GBA and MA), climate change (IPCC) and agricultural S&T (IAASTD). Professor Watson’s areas of expertise include managing and coordinating national and international environmental programmes, research programmes and assessments; establishing science and environmental policies - specifically advising governments and civil society on the policy implications of scientific information and policy options for action; and communicating scientific, technical and economic information to policymakers. During the last twenty years he has received numerous national and international awards recognising his contributions to science and the science-policy interface, including in 2003 - Honorary “Companion of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George” from the United Kingdom.

Prof. James N. Galloway,  University of Virginia, USA

A global perspective on human alteration of nitrogen cycle

James N. Galloway is the Sidman P. Poole Professor of Environmental Sciences, and the Associate Dean for the Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences, at the University of Virginia.  He received his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from the University of California, San Diego in 1972.   In 1976, he accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia and, from 1996 to 2001 served as chair of the department. He serves on the Boards of Trustees of the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole MA, and the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences.  From 1988 to 1995, he served as President of the BIOS Board. He was the founding chair of the International Nitrogen Initiative from 2003 to 2008, was a member of the USA EPA Science Advisory Board from 2003 to 2009 and is currently a lead author for IPCC Working Group 1.
                In 2002 he was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2008 he was elected a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and was awarded, with Harold Mooney, the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement
                His research on biogeochemistry includes the natural and anthropogenic controls on chemical cycles at the watershed, regional and global scales.  His current research focuses on beneficial and detrimental effects of reactive nitrogen as it cascades between the atmosphere, terrestrial ecosystems and freshwater and marine ecosystems, and he is actively involved in the development of a nitrogen footprint calculator for the general public, food producers and policy makers.

Prof. Paul J. Crutzen, Atmospheric chemistry department, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany

Emissions of greenhouse gases – the N₂O story

Paul J. Crutzen is emeritus director at the atmospheric chemistry department of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany. Since receiving his Ph.D. in Meteorology in 1966, he has been active in atmospheric research across the world, including NCAR in Boulder, Colorado. Paul has been executive director at MPI in Mainz from 1983-1985 and has authored a multitude of articles in peer-reviewed literature, books and other publications in the areas of atmospheric chemistry and its role in biogeochemical cycles and climate, climate-engineering,  climate and biofuels.
                He has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1995, jointly with Mario J. Molina and F. Sherwood Rowland "for their work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone".
His scientific interests are:

• Global modelling of atmospheric chemical processes (2-D, 3-D) for troposphere, stratosphere and lower mesosphere
• Interactions of atmospheric chemistry with climate
• Studies of the potential role of halogen photochemistry with ozone in the marine boundary layer
• Tropospherical chemistry, including the role of biomass burning in the tropics and subtropics 
  

Prof. Jack J. Middelburg, The Netherlands Institute of Ecology, The Netherlands

Estuarine and coastal biogeochemistry of nitrogen

Jack J. Middelburg has the chair in Geochemistry in the Earth Sciences department of Utrecht University and is Scientific Director of the Darwin Centre for Biogeosciences. In addition to that, he is adjunct senior scientist at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW). Jack has published more than 200 publications in peer-reviewed literature and his wider research interests include aspects

• from inorganic geochemistry via biogeochemistry to ecology
• from elemental-cycles oriented to organisms-oriented studies
• from weathering of rocks to deep-sea pore-waters
• from laboratory studies and field observations to numerical modelling
•  and through the use of reductionistic as well as holistic and explorative approaches.

                He is editor of Biogeosciences and a member of scientific committees e.g. of MPI Marine Microbiology in Bremen/Germany, the Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) and the IFM-GEOMAR institute in Kiel/Germany.    
                In 2002, Jack has received the PIONIER award of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research and in 2008 he was awarded the Roland Wollast Award for scientific contributions to Oceanography.