Elizabeth Barron is professor of environmental geography at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), in Trondheim, Norway. She is trained as an interdisciplinary scholar with degrees in conservation biology, anthropology, forest ecology and geography. She is the chair of the Fungal Use Group (FUse), a joint venture between the Fungal Conservation Committee and the Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Speciality Group (SULi) at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). From 2018 – 2022 she served as coordinating lead author on the IPBES Sustainable Use Assessment, resulting in a major increase in the representation of fungi in that report. Her research interests center around the knowledge politics of biodiversity conservation, with a special interest in how knowledge developed and stewarded in different scientific and lay communities can come together to produce more productive and meaningful conservation action. This work extends to envisioning how fungal biology and ecology can contribute to re-thinking conversation politics and practice. Most recently, she is developing a new project alongside colleagues from NTNU, SULi, FUse, FunCC, and the IUCN CEESP-SSC Biodiversity and Family Planning Inter-Commission on how to co-create fungal conservation and access to public health in sub-Saharan Africa.
Ph.D. in Tropical Mycology – University of Parakou, Benin
Olyvia Gwladys Fadeyi is a Beninese researcher specializing in ethnomycology, with a particular focus on the nutritional and medicinal valorization of wild mushrooms and biodiversity conservation. She earned her Ph.D. with highest honors and jury congratulations at the University of Parakou in June 2025, with a dissertation entitled Ethnomycological Investigations, Food and Medicinal Potential of Wild Fungi in Benin. She also holds a Master’s degree (2018, Very Honorable) and a Bachelor’s degree (2014, Good) in Agronomy, both focused on ethnomycology and chemical analysis of fungi.
A recipient of several international awards, including the L’Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science Award (2022), the RAANA Trophy for Women’s Leadership (2024), the Best Oral Presentation Award at the International COPED6BVZ Symposium in Brazzaville (2019), and the Best Master’s Student Award at the University of Parakou (2019), Olyvia has participated in numerous international conferences and
seminars in South Korea, Nigeria, Namibia, Cameroon, and Benin. Her research has been published in reputable scientific journals such as Phytochemistry Letters, Advances in Biological Chemistry, and Open Journal of Applied Sciences.
She has further expanded her expertise through research stays at international laboratories, including Goethe University Frankfurt (Germany) and the University of Dschang (Cameroon). Her work has been supported by prestigious funding sources, including:
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), Trieste, Italy
Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM)
FunTrAf Project (BMBF, Germany)
AGNES-PAWS Mobility Grant
An active member of the Association of Women for Education, Training, and Scientific Research in Benin (AFEFRS-BENIN), Olyvia contributes to food security, the strengthening of public health policies, and scientific innovation in Africa.
Mai Løvaas was born and raised in Norway and has lived in California for many years. She began studying plants, mushrooms and ethnobiology in 2012 while attending the Berkeley Herbal Center, later incorporating her passion for fungi into her MSc in Global Health at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim. For her master’s she did extensive fieldwork in Zambia and wrote her thesis titled Experiences of Female Mushroom Hunters in Zambian Miombo Woodlands: Food, Medicine, Livelihoods and Environmental Change.
In collaboration with ethnomycologist Ingvar Svanberg she has written the article How Funnel Chanterelle (Craterellus tubaeformis) Became an Urban Forager Favorite in Scandinavia, published in Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine.
In Norway Mai is a certified mushroom identification expert and a member of The Norwegian Association for Mycology and Foraging. During the fall season she can often be found guiding forays in the forest or at mushroom identification stations across Norway, helping foragers distinguish between edible and poisonous species.
Email: mailovaas@gmail.com IG: @maiwildmedicinals
Cátia is a conservation biologist with experience in conservation assessments, planning and action. She is the Biodiversity Conservation Strategist at the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN), advocating for the protection and restoration of mycorrhizal fungi. She is also a member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, and supported the creation of the Fungal and Plant Use groups within the IUCN CEESP-SSC Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Specialist Group, and the IUCN SSC Succulent Plant Illegal Trade Task Force. Cátia is highly involved in the Global Strategy for Fungal Conservation, which aligns a research strategy with the CBD Global Biodiversity Framework targets. This Strategy will connect mycologists, decision-makers, and governments to ensure the effective conservation and protection of fungi informed by scientific evidence. Previously, Cátia worked at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and was part of the team leading the State of the World’s Plants and Fungi reports. She is an IUCN Red List Trainer and co-authored more than 500 extinction risk assessments for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
