Giovanni Bearzi holds a Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Basel, Switzerland, with a thesis on Mediterranean coastal dolphins. He has been carrying out and coordinating dolphin research projects since 1986, particularly in the Adriatic and Ionian Seas. He founded and directed for a decade a dolphin research and conservation programme in Croatia, which was awarded the 'Henry Ford European Conservation Award' as best European project overall. Giovanni has always tried to combine his scientific work with public awareness and education to support marine conservation, and he has supervised a number of students and young researchers. He strives to integrate his interests, including design, computer media, science and ethics, into new ways of communicating concern for the ongoing loss of marine biodiversity. Since 1990 he has been a Board Member of the Tethys Research Institute and in 2000 he became the President of Tethys, a position he still holds. Between 2002 and 2006 he taught a course on Cetacean Conservation at the Faculty of Sciences, University of Venice, Italy. He is founder and coordinator of the Cetacean Alliance, a not-for-profit international network of non-governmental organisations committed to preserving marine biodiversity and reducing human impact on cetacean populations. In 2001 he was awarded a Pew Marine Conservation Fellowship. Giovanni can speak Italian, English, some French and a few words of modern Greek.
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Joan Gonzalvo has been collaborating with the Tethys Research Institute since 1999, and in 2007 he became part of the Tethys Board of Directors. In 2000, he joined the Group for the Study and Conservation of Marine Mammals (GRUMM) at the University of Barcelona, being involved in activities including a project funded by the Spanish Ministry for the Environment, focusing on interactions between bottlenose dolphins and fisheries, and a EU-funded project to assess bottlenose dolphin population size and conservation needs with the final goal of producing an Action Plan for the conservation of this species in the Balearic Islands. In 2006 he left Barcelona and moved to Greece to conduct year-round research in the Amvrakikos Gulf and adjacent open waters, in the context of his Ph.D. research. He coordinates teams of Earthwatch volunteers participating in the ‘Dolphins of Greece’ expedition, and he engages in public awareness campaigns involving local schools and fishermen. He has acted as consultant to UNEP’s Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and contiguous Atlantic Area (ACCOBAMS) and to UNEP’s Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas (RAC-SPA) in the context of the development of Action Plans for the Conservation of Cetaceans in Syria and Lebanon. Joan has lived for several years in London, where he earned his degree in Animal Biology. Joan can speak English, Catalan, Spanish, Italian and modern Greek.
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Silvia Bonizzoni holds a degree in Environmental Sciences at the University of Venice, Italy, with a thesis on bottlenose dolphin social organization. She got involved in the Ionian Dolphin Project in 2000 and since 2006 she is one of the principal investigators of the project. She is in charge of the photo-identification catalogues and the management of scientific data for the Ionian and Adriatic Seas. She took part in oceanographic cruises with the Venice Dolphin Project in collaboration with ISMAR and participated in cetacean surveys with the Los Angeles Dolphin Project in Southern California. She has been co-investigator for a Tethys project focusing on interactions between dolphins and coastal fisheries in and around a marine protected area in southern Italy. Since 2008 she is occasionally involved in the collection of cetaceans stranding data in Apulia, southern Italy. Silvia is an active writer for the Tethys Blog. She holds an international nautical licence and a diving certificate (CMAS, 2 stars). She can speak Italian, English and some modern Greek.

Stefano Agazzi joined the Ionian Dolphin Project in 1999 and since then he got involved in the management and scientific aspects of the project. Since 2001 he is a member of the Tethys Board of directors. His did work on the feeding ecology of high-order predators, based on the analysis of fish scales lost by their prey. He is also interested in bottlenose dolphin and short-beaked common dolphin population dynamics, conducting studies on relative abundance (through GIS) and absolute abundance (through photographic mark-recapture). In 2005 and 2006 Stefano participated in the first systematic monitoring of cetaceans in the Strait of Messina, Italy. He is also in charge of managing the Tethys office in Milan and he participates in the administration and management of the Institute. He is an emergency rescuer and a coordinator and trainer of emergency rescue teams. He holds a diving licence SSI and an international nautical licence. Stefano can speak Italian, English and a few words of modern Greek.

Marina Costa holds a degree in Biological Sciences and a Master's in Environmental Policy and Economy. She conducted studies on mollusks living on Posidonia oceanica seabeds with the Milan Civic Aquarium. She has been in charge of the field work with the Venice Dolphin Project, a Tethys project focusing on dolphins in the northern Adriatic Sea. She joined the Ionian Dolphin Project in 2003 and she is now one of the principal investigators of the project. She is also involved in dolphin photo-identification work. In 2005 and 2006 she participated in a Tethys monitoring project on cetaceans in the Strait of Messina, Italy, and she also worked as principal field investigator with the Dolphin Habitat Conservation and Sustainable Use - a pilot research and management experience in the Egyptian Red Sea, where she was also in charge of training the rangers. Since 2008 she joined the Cetacean Research and Rescue Unit in Moray Firth in Scotland with the focus on tagging minke whales and studying the common dolphins population. She holds a PADI advanced diving licence and a nautical licence. Marina can speak Italian, French, English and a few words of modern Greek.

Zsuzsanna Pereszlènyi got her MSc in Zoology at the University of Pècs, Hungary, with a thesis on the feeding behaviour of bottlenose dolphins in the Amvrakikos Gulf, Greece. Zsuzsanna has always been fond of the marine fauna. In 2005, she attended a course in Marine Biology and did professional practice at Loro Parque in Tenerife (Canary Islands), where she was studying the behaviour and bioacoustics of bottlenose dolphins, focusing on mother-offspring relationship. After this experience she investigated dolphin neurobiology, physiology and behaviour at the University of Wolverhampton, in England. In 2008, she completed a course at the School of Conservation Biology in Rovinj (Croatia). Zsuzsanna has been collaborating with the Ionian Dolphin Project since 2007. Zsuzsanna enjoys adventure and sports, especially swimming and scuba diving. She has a qualification as Striking Fitness instructor and holds a PADI Open Water and boat driving license. She speaks Hungarian, English, and Slovak.

Iva Popovic, born in Belgrade, Serbia, studies Biological Sciences at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada, with a focus in Evolution and Ecology. She is currently working on a thesis in Echinoderm molecular evolution to complete her B.Sc. In 2009, Iva had her first experience working in the field as a research assistant at the Dolphins of Greece expedition. She aims to expand her interests in ecological research and pursue a MSc in Marine Sciences. Iva is currently volunteering at the Vancouver Aquarium as an Intertidal Marine Biology Educator and she loves to snorkel and dive. She holds a PADI open water license. Iva can speak Serbian, English and basic Spanish.

Tilen Genov has been interested in cetaceans since he was a child and has been actively involved in cetacean research and conservation since 1997. His cetology life started with the Adriatic Dolphin Project, carried out at the time by Tethys Research Institute. After 5 years in the Adriatic Dolphin Project, he created a Slovenian NGO called Morigenos and initated the Slovenian Dolphin Project, focusing on the ecology and conservation of bottlenose dolphins in Slovenian and adjacent waters in the northern Adriatic Sea. He is a student of Biology at the University of Ljubljana, doing his MSc thesis on bottlenose dolphin ecology. He is a Slovenian National Contact Person for the European Cetacean Society. He was appointed as the Slovenian delegate for ACCOBAMS Meeting of the Parties and ACCOBAMS international workshops. He took part in several research projects, including, among others, on bottlenose dolphins in Slovenia and Croatia, striped dolphins in Greece and humpback and southern right whales in South Africa. Tilen holds an international nautical licence and a diving certificate (CMAS, 2 stars). Tilen can speak English, Slovene, Croatian and some basic Italian and German.

Anikó Szegedi holds a MSc degree in Ecology at the Loránd Eötvös University of Science, Hungary, with a thesis on the breeding ecology of collared flycatcher. She has been a fan of marine life from early age and decided to dedicate her life to the study and conservation of cetaceans. Her main interests are marine conservation and behavioural ecology. She got her first field work experience with dolphin research as a volunteer at the Adriatic Dolphin Project (with the Croatian NGO Blue World) and she took part in a marine biology field course. Her intention is to gain the experience needed to start a PhD on marine biology, possibly with a thesis on cetaceans. Anikó holds a NAUI Scuba Diver licence and she can speak Hungarian and English.

Elena Politi, biologist, has collaborated with the Tethys Research Institute since 1991. Initially, she has been involved in data collection and analyses on dolphins in Croatia, in the context of the Ariatic Dolphin Project. In 1993 she founded the Ionian Dolphin Project, which she directed until 2003. Elena is actively involved in the management of Tethys as member of the Board of Directors and works as Tethys' Administrative Director. Elena has been involved in several research campaigns run by the Institute, including cetacean surveys in the Caribbean Sea, in the Canary Islands and in the former Spanish Sahara. She is currently based in Venice, where she does research on dolphins in the context of the Venice Dolphin Project. Elena can speak Italian, English and some modern Greek.

Chiara Piroddi did her MSc at the Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, with a thesis on the conservation of common dolphin and bottlenose dolphin communities and their interactions with local fisheries in the waters surrounding the island of Kalamos, Greece. She used Ecopath with Ecosim, a computer-based ecosystem model, to examine and determine the status and trends of that marine ecosystem. At the moment she is working as ecosystem modeller for the Sea Around Us Project (Fisheries Centre, UBC, Canada), established by Dr. Daniel Pauly to  document large-scale impacts on marine ecosystems and find solutions to the challenges they face. In particular, models have been developed for 66 Large Marine Ecosystems, Baltic Sea, Georgia Strait, Chesapeake Bay and Peru’. Currently, she is working on database construction and analysis of data to allow assessing the global biomass of mesopelagic fishes.  She graduated at the University of Venice, Italy, with a thesis titled “Ecosystem approach to the study of bottlenose dolphins in the Amvrakikos Gulf, Greece”. Chiara has been involved in the Ionian Dolphin project since 2000. She can speak Italian, English, Spanish and some words of modern Greek.

Marcello Cazzola holds a degree in Biological Sciences. He is an hydrobiologist working in research applied to freshwater ecosystems. He works currently at Scottish Environment Protection Agency in the Freshwater Ecology team – SW Scotland. He has experience in several topics dealing with implementation of European Water Framework Directive. Major topics of his research activities have included the development and testing of quality assessment methods, the intercalibration of different survey methods, effects of climate change on river hydrology and taxonomy of freshwater invertebrates. He has a wide knowledge of ecological subjects since he started his career studying the ethology of alpine marmots in the Alps. He has been participating in field activities of Tethys' Venice Dolphin Project in 2002 and Ionian Dolphin Project in 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2009. He has been teaching environmental education and ecological surveys training courses. Marcello can speak Italian, English and French.

Carlo Della Libera had his first breathtaking experience as a Ionian Dolphin Project research assistant in 2004. He then took part in the “Mediterranean whale research” on board of the IFAW’s research vessel “Song of the Whale” and in cetacean survey conducted by Tethys in the Strait of Messina. He is now working for the Coastal & Marine Union (EUCC) in the Netherlands as the coordinator of the QualityCoast programme for the sustainable development of coastal tourist destinations and in the communication unit in other European projects. Carlo, who is a long-term rugby player, speaks Italian, English, some Spanish and a little Dutch and French.