The Ecopath Research and Development Consortium is a supporting, cooperative network focused on the research, development and sustainability of the Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) approach and software, its information basis, and complementary activities and capabilities. The Consortium is a non-commercial activity that is operated on a not for profit basis. It is the aim of the Consortium to distribute the core software and its source code freely and to practice an open-source software development by peer collaboration and production.

  • The Ecopath Research and Development Consortium was established in Vancouver, Canada, in October, 2011.
  • The Consortium is a global, cooperative network focused on the research, development and sustainability of the Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) approach and software, its information basis, and complementary activities and capabilities.
  • The Consortium is a non-commercial activity that is operated on a not for profit basis.
  • The objective of the Consortium is to contribute to the sustainability of living resources and ecosystems by developing, applying, teaching, and promoting modelling and analytical tools, with a focus on the EwE modelling approach. The work is done as a cooperative effort between research, technical, and educational entities from around the world.
  • The Consortium has as its aim to advance the development of EwE, to provide value to the users of the software, and to contribute to research and development of ecosystem-based management with a focus on EwE’s contribution to this.
  • The Consortium is organized in an Executive Board, Regional Offices, a Technical Committee, a General Assembly, and a series of Working Groups.
  • The Consortium is governed by an Executive Board and composed of registered Members.

Activities supported by the Consortium include:

  • Maintain, further develop, and disseminate the EwE software and associated structures
  • Develop and promote curricula for related training courses
  • Develop and evaluate professional standards and best practices for EwE modeling
  • Support research and development activities through working groups and projects

Contributing to the consortium:

Support to the Consortium can be provided by members through (i) assigning personnel to develop new or expand on existing modules for the EwE approach and software and/or to support the Regional Offices, (ii) subscribing to software support or fund specific development, (iii) developing training courses with focus on modelling, application and programming of the EwE approach, (iv) organizing, participating in, and promoting EwE conferences.

Joining the Consortium:

Membership to the Consortium is open to any institute or enterprise interested in supporting the Consortium activities and mandate as stated above, and requires signing a Memorandum of Understanding to express the voluntary incentive to support the Consortium mandate. Please contact the consortium if you want to receive further information about the Consortium or you want to become a member.

Current institutional member of the Ecopath Research and Development Consortium are:

Please contact the consortium if you want to receive further information about the Consortium or you want to become a member.

Executive board, last updated 7 December 2019

Chair:Villy Christensen
Vice-chair:Chiara Piroddi
Secretary:Jeroen Steenbeek
Program officer:-vacant-
Members:Francisco (Paco) Arreguin-Sanchez, Rodrigo Bustamante, Beth Fulton, Gideon Gal, Didier Gascuel, Sheila Heymans, Simone Libralato, Kim de Mutsert, Chiara Piroddi, Lynne Shannon, Marc Taylor, Manuel Zetina-Rejon

Technical committee

The technical committee oversees and organizes Ecopath with Ecosim software development, and organizes user support and co-development.
Chair:Jeroen Steenbeek
Members:Ekin Akoglu, Joe Buszowski, Villy Christensen, Jerome Guitton, Mark Platts, Frank Poulsen, Carl Walters

Communications working group

The communications working group organizes seminars and online content
Chair:Kim de Mutsert
Members:Villy Christensen, Leigh McGaughey, Sheila Heymans, Kristy Lewis, Jeroen Steenbeek

Ecotracer working group

The Ecotracer working group focuses on applying and further extending the EwE contaminant tracing module .
Chair:Maciej Tomczak
Members:Shawn Booth, Joe Buszowski, Rasa Morkūnė, Chiara Piroddi, Jeroen Steenbeek, Kieran Tierney, Will Walters

Policy working group

Chair:Chiara Piroddi, Maciej Tomczak
Members:Howard Townsend, Jacob Bentley

Training working group

The training working group organizes EwE courses with institutes or on demand from users, and can perform model Quality Assurance assessments on request.
Chair:Kristy Lewis
Members:Francisco (Paco) Arreguin-Sanchez, Villy Christensen, Marta Coll, Didier Gascuel, Sheila Heymans, Steve Mackinson, Kim de Mutsert, Jeroen Steenbeek, Maciej Tomczak, Howard Townsend, Divya Varkey, Manuel Zetina Rejon