Dr Mercedes Santos is a Research Scientist with a background in avian biology, Antarctic policy and marine spatial planning. Her research interests focus on penguin population dynamics and the conservation of the Southern Ocean, particularly on marine spatial planning and socio-ecological systems. She is the Argentinean alternative representative in the Scientific Committee of the Commission for the conservation of Antarctic Marine Resources (CCAMLR) and one of the co leader researcher of the MPA proposal for the Western Antarctic Peninsula lead by Argentina and Chile. She is currently the co-chief on the Steering Committee of the SCAR Scientific Research Programme Ant-ICON (Integrated Science to Inform Antarctic and Southern Ocean Conservation). From 2020 to 2022, Dr Santos was the National Director of Marine Protected Areas from Argentina.
