Verena Haussermann

Vreni Häussermann is carrying out multi-disciplinary research that is needed to facilitate conservation and sustainable resource management in Chilean Patagonia. She is dedicated to baseline research projects such as species inventories and studies of patterns in biological diversity through space and time. She was the organizer and main editor of the book Marine Benthic Fauna of Chilean Patagonia, the first marine field guide for multiple groups of organisms in the fjord region. She is active in counselling governmental and non-governmental organisations on conservation and proper marine resource management and brings research results not only to the scientific community, but also to decision makers, industry representatives, fishermen and the broader public. Her team submitted a proposal for a marine protected area (MPA) in two fjords with unique cold-water coral banks. Together with other NGOs, they have been working on a proposal for a network of MPAs for Chilean Patagonia for the Chilean govermment. She has contributed to international initiatives such as the Census of Marine Life, the Discover Life program, Mission Blue and Google Ocean. She won the PEW Marine Fellowship in 2011, the Rolex Award for Enterprise in 2016, and the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Bessel Award of the Alexander von Humboldt-Foundation in 2020. She works as researcher at San Sebastian University, Puerto Montt, Chile.