Secretariat/staff

The OSPAR Commission Secretariat facilitates the work of the Contracting Parties by supporting and organising an annual cycle of meetings together with intersessional work programmes.

The international staff comprises an Executive Secretary, five Deputy Secretaries and eight Officers.

Executive Secretary

+44 (0) 7494332213

The Executive Secretary, Dominic Pattinson, is the Head of the OSPAR Secretariat. His main role is to ensure support to OSPAR's 16 Contracting Parties in their efforts towards delivering the objectives of OSPAR, as laid down in the OSPAR Convention and the North-East Atlantic Environment Strategy. The Executive Secretary leads the work of the Secretariat towards contributing to the delivery of agreed products and preparing the work for consideration of the Commission and its subsidiary bodies at different decision-making levels.

Deputy Secretaries

Debbie Hembury

+44 (0) 207 430 5200

Responsible for OSPAR's Biodiversity Diversity Committee (BDC) and its subsidiary groups

Maude Jolly

+44 (0) 7932 088831

Responsible for OSPAR's Environmental Impacts of Human Activities Committee (EIHA) and its subsidiary groups.

Laura De la Torre

+44 (0) 7494 332040 or +44 (0) 2038489681

Responsible for OSPAR's Offshore Industry Committee (OIC) and its subsidiary bodies; OSPAR’s Radioactive Substance Committee and its subsidiary bodies; and the North Sea Network of Investigators and Prosecutors (NSN). Supporting OSPAR’s engagement with the Bonn Agreement.

Carole Durussel

+44 (0) 207 430 5200

Responsible for OSPAR's Coordination Group (CoG) and its subsidiary bodies. Supporting OSPAR’s work on the Arctic (AOWG), climate change and ocean acidification (CCEG, ICG-OA, WG COCOA), ecosystem assessment and cumulative effects (ICG-EcoC), economic and social analyses (ICG-ESA), the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (ICG-MSFD), the Quality Status Report (ICG-QSR), joint assessment and monitoring (JAMP), the Science Agenda (OSA), and measures and actions (TG-MAP). Also supporting OSPAR’s international engagement and the implementation of the Collective Arrangement (CollArr). Image credit: Kathleen Friedrich Photography.