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CEO and co-founder

Ning Yen

Ning Yen a passionate ocean conservation activist who has dedicated over a decade of her life to safeguarding the world’s oceans. Her expertise lies in science communication, policy advocacy, and forging meaningful connections among diverse stakeholders. In 2017, she played a pivotal role in driving the adoption of the “Marine Debris Governance Platform” among non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and worked closely with the Environmental Protection Administration of Taiwan to co-author Taiwan’s Action Plan for Marine Debris Governance.

Currently, she leads several citizen science initiatives, crafting capacity-building programs for local NGOs and fostering regional collaboration with organizations in Korea, Japan, and the United States. Beyond her professional endeavors, she loves exploring new places through travel and cooking for her family and friends.

Research Director and co-founder

Jason Hu

Jason Hu has been dedicating his time and energy to solving the problem of marine debris for over fifteen years. With his extensive experience working in environmental NGO, he is highly skilled in designing citizen science surveys, as well as connecting communities, academics, and governments. In 2018, under his leadership, the first large-scale coastal debris survey was conducted around Taiwan with seven NGOs. As time went on, he developed more survey methods for riverine litter, ALDFG, floating litter, and marine-based litter. When he is not busy with surveys, he enjoys spending time with his family pursuing activities such as snorkeling, stand up paddleboarding, and camping.

Strategic Advisor

Dr. Sunwook (Sunny) Hong

Dr. Sunwook (Sunny) Hong is a research scientist and President of Our Sea of East Asia Network (OSEAN) which is a non-profit organization in South Korea, dedicated to research, education, policy development, and international cooperation to protect the marine environment from marine debris. OSEAN is a network hub for the cooperation of scientists, governments, citizens, and private sectors in the Asia Pacific region. She has served as a secretariat of the Asia Pacific Civil Forum on Marine Litter since 2009.

Science Consultant

Dr. Bruno A. Walther

Bruno Andreas Walther received his PhD in zoology from Oxford University in 1998, and has since worked on the relationships of biodiversity and ecosystems to human health and well-being, the effects of climate change on species distributions and human health, and the behaviour, ecology and conservation of birds. Since 2016, he has worked on macroplastic and microplastic pollution of oceans and coastal habitats and seafood products in East Asia, and has also written three articles about it in the Taipei Times.

Science Consultant

Dr. Falk Schneider

Dr. Falk Schneider is a postdoctoral research fellow at the National Cheng Kung University in Tainan, interested in marine litter, life cycle assessment and waste treatment technologies. After finishing his PhD on the retrieval and recycling of derelict fishing gear at the University of Bath in the United Kingdom, he is now working on coastal and freshwater litter hotspot maps, the assessment of fishing gear flows, and novel recycling pathways for marine litter in Taiwan. In addition, Dr. Falk Schneider is also working on Circular Economy related topics such as the recovery of critical resources from future vehicles or the energy recovery from biomass waste. He currently lives with his family in Tainan.

Karen Ko

Expertise on project management, events planning, and environmental education.

Chihsuan Hsu

Chihsuan has a master degree from the Department of Marine Biotechnology and Resources, National Sun Yat-sen University. Her research interests include marine ecology, population genetics, phylogeography, and seagrass taxonomy and ecology. She loves diving, outdoor activities, doing workout, and collecting pink stuff.