Francis Kerckhof has been a senior marine scientist since 2000 at the Marine Ecology and Management team (MARECO) of RBINS. He is an expert in marine and coastal biodiversity with more than 40 years of experience in the field. He is involved in several marine conservation and management groups and initiatives e.g. in the framework of OSPAR (OSPAR List of threatened and/or declining species, including Ostrea edulis). His current research interests focus on studying the invertebrate hard bottom communities on the newly installed wind turbines off the Belgian coast and the natural hard substrata communities. The latter includes investigating the distribution and biodiversity of the former Ostrea reefs in the Southern North Sea, from an ecological and historical perspective. He has a profound taxonomic knowledge of many marine taxa, specialising in Cirripedia and Mollusca. He has also a broad expertise in hard substrata epifauna with a particular attention to non-indigenous species; he is an active member of the ICES working groups on the Introduction and Transfer of Marine Organisms (WGITMO) and Ballast and Other Ships Vectors (WGBSOV). He is involved in various actions and activities (scientific and policy related) regarding biodiversity in general and in particular non-indigenous and alien invasive species in Belgium.