Keynote speakers
2026 Wakefield Symposium
Alistair Hobday
Dr. Alistair Hobday, based in Hobart, Australia, works in the Sustainable Marine Futures Program of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. His research projects include documenting the impacts of environmental change on marine biodiversity and fishery resources, and developing, prioritizing and testing adaptation options to underpin sustainable use and conservation. He has worked in multi-disciplinary teams and seeks to support management and policy uptake of research via co-production with stakeholders. Alistair co-founded the International Marine Heatwaves Group and the Oceania Ecological Forecasting Initiative. In 2018, he received a lifetime achievement award from the Australia Society for Fish Biology, and in 2023, he was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.
Katherine Mills
Dr. Katherine Mills is a senior research scientist at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland, Maine. She earned her Ph.D. in Natural Resources at Cornell University. As a quantitative fisheries ecologist, Kathy studies marine ecosystem changes and fish-ecosystem-fishery relationships. Her research focuses on the Gulf of Maine and Northeast U.S. Shelf, and investigates how physical and ecosystem conditions are changing, how these changes affect fish populations and fisheries, and adaptation and resilience planning for fisheries and fishing communities. Much of her work is interdisciplinary and collaborative, involving scientists and stakeholders to understand and inform management of fisheries as coupled social-ecological systems and to support adaptation and resilience in marine fisheries. Kathy serves as a chair of the ICES-PICES Strategic Initiative on Climate Change Impacts on Marine Ecosystems, through which she helps advance research, communicate findings, and synthesize information about impacts, adaptation, and advice across the North Atlantic and North Pacific regions. In addition, she co-leads a U.N. Ocean Decade program, Fisheries Strategies for Changing Oceans and Resilient Ecosystems by 2030, which facilitates a global network of scientists, stakeholders, and practitioners seeking to support resilience in marine fisheries.
Lisa Kerr
Dr. Lisa Kerr is a fisheries scientist and associate professor at the School of Marine Sciences, University of Maine, where she leads the Quantitative Fisheries Research Lab. She is interested in understanding the structure and dynamics of fish populations, and conducts research that supports the sustainable management of marine fisheries and ecosystems. Lisa specializes in the application of statistical and mathematical modeling to resolve both fundamental ecological questions and applied challenges in fisheries science. She is an expert in stock identification methods, utilizing these tools to understand the complex population structure of fishery resources. Lisa serves as a strategic advisor to regional, national, and international fisheries management organizations, providing expertise on stock assessment and management frameworks. Her current work includes facilitating the transition toward climate-informed decision-making in fisheries by leading the Northeast Climate Integrated Modeling initiative, a multidisciplinary collaboration supporting climate-resilient fisheries management in the Northeast United States.
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