Professor Melanie Austen is Professor of Ocean and Society at University of Plymouth. She leads UK and internationally funded interdisciplinary marine science projects. Her main, personal research focus is marine ecosystem services and natural capital.  She is a member of the UK Government’s Natural Capital Committee and of its Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), Chair of the Partnership of the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in North Devon, and a member of the Board of Canadian Healthy Oceans Network (CHONe2). She served a 3 year term as the first Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK’s Marine Management Organisation. She was appointed honorary Professor at University of Exeter in 2014. She leads UKRI’s Global Challenges Research Funded project Blue Communities focused on coastal communities and their environment in SE Asia. NUOF