Meike Scheidat is a senior researcher at Wageningen Marine Research with a research interest in abundance, distribution, habitat use and human interaction of cetaceans. Study areas range from the tropics to the Antarctic, with a current focus on the  North Sea. The main methodologies used in her research have been visual surveys, either by air or vessel, as well as passive acoustic monitoring. She has served the last years as a scientific adviser to the Dutch government, in particular in the ASCOBANS agreement and the International Whaling Commission. She has also been chair of the ICES working group on marine mammal ecology and has been a council member of the European Cetacean Society. she is also advising OSPAR (The Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic) and a member of the CMS (Convention for Migratory Species) Scientific Council’s Aquatic Mammals Working Group (AMWG) and member of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Species Survival Commission (SSC) and Cetacean Specialist Group.