IMIS

Nicole her scientific expertise with coral reef ecosystems and the multidisciplinary nature of her research together with her leadership led to the appointments as senior researcher at Naturalis Biodiversity Center, then, in parallel, as senior lecturer at Leiden University and being offered a chair Global change and marine ecosystems as Professor by special appointment at Leiden University (since 2018). She has always been mesmerized by the unknown underwater creatures of coral reefs and the deep sea, and her fascination by the ancient and seemingly simple group of animals - sponges - led her to become a taxonomic expert of sponges. Since 2021, she has been the chief editor for the Porifera, collaborating with international sponge specialists. Her involvement as a WoRMS editor started already a lot earlier, when she took on the editorship for the Haplosclerida and the South-East Asian sponge fauna at the start of WoRMS. Her coordination of the 2nd year BSc course ‘Biodiversity’ at Leiden University since 2015, also establishes collaborations with early-stage taxonomists, mainly from SE Asia. She aims to bring her wide expertise, experience and network into the WoRMS Steering Committee, and help explore how WoRMS can improve, and its user community be widened.