Dr. Monica Verbeek is the executive director of Seas At Risk, the Brussels-based umbrella organisation of environmental NGOs from across Europe that promotes ambitious policies for marine protection at European and international level. Seas At Risk has over 30 member organisations from 17 countries representing millions of citizens. It addresses issues ranging from marine litter, (deep sea) fisheries, aquaculture and shipping to cross-sectoral EU level initiatives such as the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and Blue Growth, including deep-sea mining. Monica Verbeek also serves as steering group member for the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition and until recently as vice president of the South Western Waters Regional Advisory Council for fisheries.

Before joining Seas At Risk, Monica Verbeek worked as an independent marine environmental consultant, and as a biodiversity campaign coordinator for Greenpeace Netherlands. During her extensive experience with marine environmental campaigns, stretching back to the early 1990s, Monica Verbeek was successful in pushing for marine environmental protection policy decisions at national, European, regional (North East Atlantic) and UN level.

Before joining the environmental movement, Monica Verbeek was trained as a biologist and worked as a researcher; she holds a Master’s degree in biology (received with honours) and a PhD degree in behavioural ecology from the Wageningen University in the Netherlands.