Hilde Eggermont Email & Phone Number

De Haan, Be

Brussels, Brussels Region, Belgium

Belgium

Roles:• Coordinator of the Belgian Biodiversity Platform (www.biodiversity.be), a neutral and interest-free “science-policy interface” connecting (Belgian) researchers to major national, European, international & intergovernmental biodiversity and ecosystem services initiatives (2012 - present);• Belgian Focal Point for the Intergovernmental Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES; www.ipbes.net) (2012 - present);• Chair and Coordinator of the European co-funded Biodiversity Partnership, under Horizon Europe (2021-present);• IUCN Vice President (2022 - present)• Alternate IPBES Bureau member for the Western European and Others Group (2019-present)Former roles:• Vice-Chair of the BiodivERsA Partnership (2015-2022)• Belgian Focal Point for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN; www.iucn.org) (2012-2021)• IUCN Councillor (2016-2021)• Chair of the IUCN European Policy Advisory Group (2019 - 2022)Expertise and interest: nature conservation policies and programmes, science-based policy support, biodiversity research programming, science communication and outreach

Ghent

• Principal Investigator: “Fossil Chironomidae (Insecta: Diptera) in lake sediments as quantitative indicators for past climate in tropical Africa and Indonesia ” funded by the Fund of Scientific Research Flanders• Project Coordinator of a Belgian Science Policy Office Action 1 Programme on Afrotropical BiodiversityResearch expertise principally fall in 2 areas:1. Long-term dynamics of aquatic communities and ecosystem function in African (mountain) lakes:I have been involved in several projects aiming to understand the long-term dynamics (years to millennia) of aquatic communities and ecosystem function in African lakes, using biological tracers extracted from high-resolution lake-sediment records. My most recent work focused on East African mountain regions and explored the potential of chironomids as paleothermometers. 2. Community dynamics of water fleas in East African mountain lakes: integration of (palaeo)limnology and (palaeo)genetics: This research initiative aims to disentangle the relative importance of local, regional and temporal processes driving the community ecology of afro alpine waterfleas. The study comprises various spatial and temporal scales in the isolated islands of East Africa’s highest mountain ranges, and integrates traditional techniques with more novel approaches such as palaeogenetics.