Presentations for election to the
ECCB board, 2026 

Hungarian Natural History Museum, 1088. Budapest, Baross str. 13., Hungary

pappbea65@gmail.com, papp.beata@nhmus.hu

Region: SE Europe

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I have been working at the Hungarian Natural History Museum since 1989, immediately after graduating from university, and then in 1990 I became the curator of the Bryophyte Collection. My main research interest is the exploration of the bryophyte flora of Hungary and the Balkan peninsula focusing on biodiversity, threatened species and conservation. I also have experience in bryophyte monitoring e.g. from 1991, I have been participating in the long-term hydrobotanical monitoring with the sampling of aquatic-riparian bryophyte vegetation of the Szigetköz branch-system of the Danube, and from 2000, I have been conducting monitoring of bryophyte species of the Habitats Directive and bryophyte vegetation of various habitats in the frame of the Hungarian National Biodiversity-monitoring System. My career has been intertwined with ECCB for a long time. I was a Board member of ECCB from 2004 to 2012, then I was the chair of ECCB from 2012 to 2016, later on, I have been serving as vice-chair from 2016. From 2016 to 2019, I participated as an expert of the Balkan bryophyte flora in the European Bryophyte Red List project of IUCN/ECCB.  I am a member of the IUCN SSC Bryophyte Specialist, Conservation Planning and Monitoring Groups.

Stuttgart State Museum of Natural History, Rosenstein 1 70191-Stuttgart, Germany

thomas.kiebacher@smns-bw.de

Region: C

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I grew up in Italy and have conducted research in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. I completed my PhD at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), focusing on the biodiversity and conservation of bryophytes in wooded pastures. Following this, I contributed to the Swiss Red List of bryophytes at the University of Zurich. I am currently a group leader at the Stuttgart State Museum of Natural History in Germany. My research explores bryophyte diversity across space and time, with particular emphasis on ecological, taxonomic, evolutionary, and conservation perspectives. I have conducted fieldwork across various regions of Europe, with a particular emphasis on the Alps, as well as in Scandinavia, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. My primary research interests lie in mountain environments, with a special focus on the bryophyte families Grimmiaceae, especially Schistidium, and Orthotrichaceae.

Institute for Alpine Environment at Eurac Research (Viale Druso, 1-39100 Bozen, Italy)

Silvia.Poponessi@eurac.edu

Region: SE Europe

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I am a systematic botanist specialist in the assessment and red-listing of bryophytic species and habitats characterised by bryophytes, as well as invasive alien bryophytic taxa and communities. My research focuses on the classification and ecology of bryophytes, with a particular emphasis on defining species boundaries, understanding systematics, and exploring the evolutionary relationships among mosses, liverworts, and hornworts. At the same time, I am investigating the ecology of bryophytes. This involves examining their functional roles in ecosystems and their responses to environmental drivers, including climate change and habitat disturbance. My work integrates field surveys and herbarium studies to advance biodiversity assessment and inform conservation strategies. The focus of my current studies is the ecology of bryophytes at varying altitudes within the Alpine range. I am also studying biomonitoring using cryptogams.

Herbarium, Department of Biodiversity Sciences, FI-20014 University of Turku, Finland

Email: kmpihl@utu.fi

Region: NW

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I work as a Senior Researcher (M.Sc.) in Turku University Herbarium, Finland. My main responsibilities include curating the bryophyte and lichen collections of the herbarium, taking care of communication matters and teaching. My research activities can be checked on ResearchGate. Since 2019 I have been acting as the secretary of the Finnish Bryophyte Expert Group. The Expert Group is responsible for executing the national Red Listing of bryophytes and maintaining the national checklist of bryophyte species in Finland. In the position of secretary and North-West Europe Regional Representative of ECCB board I began in March 2025. I have found the board work and handling of bryophyte conservation issues also at the European level interesting and inspiring and wish to continue this work.

Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden-Institute, Kola Sci. Centre, Russ. Acad. Sci., 184236 Kirovsk-6, Russia;

 e-mail: nadya50@list.ru

Region: NE

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I was born in Moscow. After graduating from high school and then from the Moscow State University. My professional career then revolved around the Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden Institute of the Kola Science Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Murmansk Province). My PhD thesis topic was "Liverworts of the Khibiny Mountains (Murmansk Region)," and my doctoral thesis topic was «The main features of liverwort floras of the northern». My initial interests focused on studying the diversity of liverworts in various regions of Russia, primarily in various nature reserves and national parks, as well as on liverwort phylogeny and taxonomy of some difficult mostly arctic genera. I have collected numerous specimens in various hard-to-reach regions of Russia and Svalbard, the identification of these specimens remains the objectives of my work. I pay great attention to assessing the threats to liverworts for Red Lists of different regions and republics of Russia of and for Russia in general. I have also been involved in a threat assessment for liverworts in Europe.

Name: Belén Albertos Bofarull

Belen. Albertos@uv.es

Region: SW Europe

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I am a bryologist and conservation biologist with over three decades of experience in the study and conservation of bryophytes, particularly in the Mediterranean region and Macaronesia. I currently hold a position as Associate Professor at the University of Valencia, where I combine teaching, research, and active engagement in biodiversity conservation.

My scientific career has focused on the taxonomy, ecology, and biogeography of bryophytes, with a strong emphasis on epiphytic communities and their responses to environmental gradients and global change. I have contributed extensively to the knowledge of bryophyte diversity through numerous peer-reviewed publications, international collaborations, and participation in research projects across Europe, North Africa, and beyond, including Antarctica. In recent years, I have been involved in projects addressing bryophyte spore biology, including dispersal ecology, spore banks and ex situ conservation strategies. 

I have been actively involved in conservation initiatives at both national and international levels, notably as co-coordinator of the Spanish Red Book of Bryophytes and contributor to the European Red List. My work also includes advising on conservation strategies, participating in IUCN-related activities, and leading projects aimed at improving protection frameworks for threatened species.

I am currently serving as president of Spanish Bryological Society.