EPB Welcomes New EXCOM Member and Appointed Representatives

The European Polar Board (EPB) is pleased to announce recent updates to its governance, including the appointment of a new Executive Committee (EXCOM) member and several newly appointed Member Representatives. These changes mark the regular rotation of roles within the EPB and introduce new expertise from across the EPB member organisations.

New Executive Committee Member

Following two full terms served by outgoing EXCOM member Egill Thor Níelsson, EPB welcomes Prof. Peter Schweitzer as the new Executive Committee (EXCOM) member.  

Peter Schweitzer is Professor at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Vienna and Professor Emeritus at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He served as director of the Austrian Polar Research Institute (APRI) from 2016 to 2020 and as department chair in Fairbanks (2001-2005) and Vienna (2016-2020, 2022-2023). In addition, he has held leadership roles in international organizations, including as president of the International Arctic Social Sciences Association (IASSA - 2001-2004) and as chair of the Social and Human Sciences Working Group of the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC - 2011-2015). From 2021 to 2025, he has been leading the ERC Advanced Grant “Building Arctic Futures: Transport Infrastructures and Sustainable Northern Communities” (InfraNorth). His theoretical interests range from kinship and identity politics to human-environmental interactions, including the social lives of infrastructure and the community effects of global climate change; his regional focus areas include Alaska, Siberia and other parts of the circumpolar North. He has published widely on all of these issues.

EPB expresses its sincere gratitude to Egill Thor Níelsson for his contributions and dedicated service to EXCOM.

EPB new representatives

The EPB also welcomes the new EPB primary representatives Gael Durand (CNRS), Line Bekker Poulsen (DASHE), David Renault (IPEV), and alternate representatives Sophie Opfergelt (FNRS), and Elie Verleyen (FWO).

Dr. Gaël Durand is Director of Research at CNRS and a leading specialist in modelling polar ice sheets and coastal glacier dynamics in the context of sea-level rise. Based at the Institute of Environmental Geosciences (IGE) in Grenoble and a core member of the CryoDyn team, he has contributed extensively to advancing understanding of ice-ocean interactions. He holds a PhD in Earth and Universe Sciences from Université Joseph Fourier de Grenoble. Durand currently serves as the scientific coordinator of the H2020 PROTECT project, which aims to improve projections of cryospheric contributions to future sea-level rise, and he also coordinates the French Polar Research Strategic Plan 2025–2035. His work sits at the intersection of numerical modelling, climate science, and polar research policy.

Line Bekker Poulsen is DASHE’s EU Adviser on Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness, within the cluster of Climate, Energy and Mobility. She is a member of the Danish National Committee for Research Infrastructure and holds a Master’s degree in Communications and International Development. Her professional background includes significant experience in international cooperation, including at the Technical University of Denmark’s office for international relations. Her work focuses on strengthening Denmark’s strategic engagement in European research and innovation programmes, particularly those addressing global environmental and societal challenges.

Dr. David Renault is Director of IPEV and Professor at the University of Rennes, bringing extensive expertise in polar and sub-Antarctic biology. Formerly Director of Scientific Expeditions at IPEV, he has developed a strong research profile in population ecology, polar ecology, ecophysiology, biological invasions, environmental stress, and metabolomics. His scientific leadership spans numerous field campaigns and research programmes focused on understanding how polar species respond to environmental change.

Prof. Sophie Opfergelt is Senior Research Associate at the Earth & Life Institute and Professor in the Faculty of Bioengineering at UC Louvain (Belgium). Trained as a geologist with a PhD in Biological Engineering, she investigates Earth’s surface processes, chemical weathering, and elemental transport into the hydrosphere. Her research integrates biogeochemistry and isotope geochemistry, with a particular emphasis on polar regions, where she studies the impacts of permafrost thaw and glacier retreat on biogeochemical cycles. Working across disciplines, Opfergelt’s contributions are central to understanding environmental change in cold-region landscapes.

Dr. Elie Verleyen earned his PhD in 2004 and is a Lecturer in Global Change Biology at Ghent University. His research explores the evolution of polar aquatic ecosystems through the Late Quaternary, with a focus on microbial biogeography. Verleyen applies both traditional and modern sequencing tools to unravel the history and functioning of freshwater ecosystems in Antarctica, the sub-Antarctic, Patagonia, and the High Arctic. He currently coordinates the CLIMARCTIC project, which investigates the impacts of climate change on Svalbard soils and lakes.

EPB expresses its sincere gratitude to the outgoing Member representatives Dr. Marie Noelle Houssais (CNRS), Dr. Naimah Hussain (DASHE), and Dr. Yan Ropert-Coudert (IPEV) for their dedicated service.