Giovanni Bearzi has been doing research on Mediterranean dolphins since 1986, particularly in the Adriatic and Ionian Seas. He founded and directed for a decade a dolphin research and conservation programme in Croatia, that 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 holds a Ph.D. in zoology at the University of Basel, Switzerland, with a thesis on Mediterranean coastal dolphins. 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 Cetacean Alliance. 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 joined the Board of directors. Between years 2000 and 2005 he was member of GRUMM, the group for the study and conservation of marine mammals at the University of Barcelona, Spain. As a GRUMM collaborator he was involved in a study of interactions between bottlenose dolphins and fisheries funded by the Spanish Ministry for the Environment, and in a EU-funded project to assess bottlenose dolphin population size and conservation needs in the Balearic Islands. He was responsible for a bottlenose dolphin monitoring project in the Ebro river delta (north-eastern Spain) to evaluate the potential effects of the proposed construction of offshore wind farms. In 2006 he settled in Greece where he does year-round dolphin research in the Amvrakikos Gulf in the context of his Ph.D. with the University of Barcelona. 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 bottlenose dolphin 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. Silvia is an active writer for the Tethys Blog and holds an international nautical licence and a diving certificate (CMAS, 2 stars). Silvia can speak Italian, English and a few words of 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 mollusk 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 common dolphin photo-identification work. In 2005 and 2006 she participated in a Tethys monitoring project on cetaceans in the Strait of Messina, Italy. In 2005 and 2006 she 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. In 2008 she joined the Cetacean Research and Rescue Unit in Moray Firth in Scotland with the focus on tagging minke whales. 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 studies Biological Sciences at the University of Pècs, in Hungary. She is finishing her MSc at the Faculty of Zoology, specializing in animal ecology and behaviour. 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 from 2007. She is involved in the field work, logistics and training of teams of volunteers, and in photo-identification work year round. Her MSc thesis focuses on the feeding behaviour of bottlenose dolphins in the Amvrakikos Gulf. 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.

Aina Pascual Cuadras holds a degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Barcelona, Spain. She is currently doing her MSc in Biodiversity and Animal Conservation at the University of Barcelona. She has previously worked as a volunteer on a marine turtle project in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where she discovered her growing interest in marine conservation. Formerly, she also did ethological research on chimpanzees at the Barcelona zoo. Upon completion of her University courses she will join the Ionian Dolphin Project as a research assistant to carry out cetacean research for her MSc thesis. Aina has worked in Scotland and Italy in order to complete her biological science studies and improve her language skills. She enjoys diving, photographing, learning languages and meeting people from other cultures. She can speak Catalan, Spanish, English, Italian and basic French.

Annalise Petroselli holds a BSc and MSc (Hons) in Marine Biology and Oceanography. She has been collecting data on stranded cetaceans and conducting several necropsies for her thesis on heavy metals in Odontocete cetaceans stranded in the northern Adriatic Sea. Particularly interested in dolphin behaviour, Annalise was determined to follow this specific passion earning a MSc in Marine Mammal Science at the University of Bangor, Wales. In collaboration with Tethys she studied the habitat preferences and distribution of short-beaked common dolphins in relation to environmental parameters in the area of Kalamos (Greece). Annalise participated twice in Tethys' Mediterranean Fin Whale Project as a volunteer. She worked as a principal investigator in the Pelagian Isles Bottlenose Dolphin Project, being in charge of cetacean photo-identification and in the rescue operations of injured sea turtles at Lampedusa Island. She is actively involved in the First Aid rescue operations for Cetaceans PR.IN.CE. (Pronto Intervento Cetacei) in Italy and recently she rescued two Risso's dolphins in the port of Ancona. In 2005 she joined the Bottlenose Dolphin and Minke Whale Research and Marine Mammals Rescue Project (CRRU, Scotland) and in 2006 took part in an oceanographic cruise with the Venice Dolphin Project in collaboration with ISMAR.  She holds a PADI Open Water licence and an international nautical licence. Annalise is a native speaker of both Italian and English, and speaks some Spanish and a few words of modern Greek.

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.

Mauro Colla got his bachelor degree in Evolution and Biodiversity at the University of Milan with a thesis on the effects of pesticide contamination in marine invertebrates. His first field experience was in Tanzania in 2004, where he engaged in a a survey to estimate the abundance of carnivore mammals. In 2006 he got involved in Tethys' Cetacean Sanctuary Research as a research assistant and in 2008 he became co-responsible for field data collection. In 2008 he also got involved in the Ionian Dolphin Project and worked in Kalamos and in the Amvrakikos Gulf as an assistant. Mauro has a SSI Advanced diving certificate and he works as a guide at the Milan Civic Aquarium. Mauro enjoys nature photography and he dedicates much of his free time to this passion. For over a decade he has been taking care of aquariums with reef fish and living corals, but when he realized that most aquarium fish are caught illegally and that this business can harm tropical ecosystems, he decided to quit his hobby. Mauro speaks Italian and English.

Marcel Clusa holds a degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Barcelona, Spain. While collaborating in different conservation projects with the university he has been working as an environmental teacher at CRAM (Centre for the Rehabilitation of Marine Animals). Joining the Ionian Dolphin Project as research assistant in summer 2006, he discovered the importance of being involved in cetacean conservation actions. Following his growing interest in the impact of fisheries on cetacean populations after his experience with Tethys, Marcel started a MSc in Marine Environmental Protection at the University of Bangor,Wales. Marcel enjoys diving, sharing new experiences with people from other cultures and he aims to pursue a career in marine mammal science. He can speak Catalan, English, Spanish and a few words of Italian and modern Greek.

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. 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 and some words of modern Greek.