Kit Kovacs is a

marine mammal Marine mammals are mammals that rely on marine ecosystems for their existence. They include animals such as cetaceans, pinnipeds, sirenians, sea otters and polar bears. They are an informal group, unified only by their reliance on marine enviro ...

researcher, best known for her work on biology, conservation and management of

whales Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully Aquatic animal, aquatic placental mammal, placental marine mammals. As an informal and Colloquialism, colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea ...

and seals. She is based at the

Norwegian Polar Institute The Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI; ) is Norway's central governmental institution for scientific research, mapping and environmental monitoring in the Arctic and the Antarctic. The NPI is a directorate under Norway's Ministry of Climate and Envir ...

(NPI),

Tromsø Tromsø is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tromsø Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the administrative centre of Troms county. The city is located on the is ...

and is an adjunct professor of biology, marine biology, at the

University Centre in Svalbard The University Centre in Svalbard (; UNIS) is a Norway, Norwegian state enterprise, state-owned aksjeselskap, limited company that is involved in research and provides some higher education in Arctic studies. The company is wholly owned by the Min ...

(UNIS).

Early life and education

Kovacs was born in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and has

Canadian citizenship Canadian nationality law details the conditions by which a person is a national of Canada. The primary law governing these regulations is the Citizenship Act, which came into force on February 15, 1977 and is applicable to all provinces and ...

. She received her H.B.Sc. (Biology) in 1979 from

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Canada. In 1982, she was awarded a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

degree in Biology by the

Lakehead University Lakehead University is a public research university with campuses in Thunder Bay and Orillia, Ontario, Canada. Lakehead University, shortened to 'Lakehead U', is non-denominational and provincially supported. It has undergraduate programs, gradua ...

Thunder Bay Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario. Its population i ...

. Her doctorate (Ph.D) in Zoology was awarded by the

University of Guelph The University of Guelph (abbreviated U of G) is a comprehensive Public university, public research university in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1964 after the amalgamation of Ontario Agricultural College (1874), the MacDonald I ...

(Guelph) in 1986.

Research career

Kovacs' teaching career, spanning over 12 years, started as an assistant professor at the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a Public university, public research university located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on of land adjacent to uptown Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university also op ...

. She is now the senior research scientist for the Biodiversity Research Programme at the Centre for Ice Climate and Ecosystems (ICE) at the

, as well as a professor of biology at University Studies on Svalbard (UNIS). During her 30-year-long research career, Kovacs has studied marine mammal population ecology, biology conservation and management, including satellite tagging of

bowhead whales The bowhead whale (''Balaena mysticetus''), sometimes called the Greenland right whale, Arctic whale, and polar whale, is a species of baleen whale belonging to the family Balaenidae and is the only living representative of the genus '' Balaena' ...

since 2010, the

biopsy A biopsy is a medical test commonly performed by a surgeon, interventional radiologist, an interventional radiologist, or an interventional cardiology, interventional cardiologist. The process involves the extraction of sampling (medicine), sample ...

sampling of whales since 2006, and extensive research on seals Kovacs has published over 300 publications, receiving over 18,000 citations, resulting in an

h-index The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with success indicators such as winning t ...

and

i10-index Author-level metrics are citation metrics that measure the bibliometric impact of individual authors, researchers, academics, and scholars. Many metrics have been developed that take into account varying numbers of factors (from only considering ...

of 69 and 226 respectively. Kovacs has also successfully facilitated cooperation between the tourism industry and researchers in the Arctic region.

Service

Kovacs has been the President of the

Society for Marine Mammalogy The Society for Marine Mammalogy was founded in 1981 and is the largest international association of marine mammal scientists in the world. Mission The mission of the Society for Marine Mammalogy (SMM) is to promote the global advancement of mari ...

. She now plays an advisory role as Past President for Life, and is currently serving her second term as the Chair of the IUCN's Pinniped Specialist Group. She served as a representative to the Standing Scientific Group – Life Science under SCAR from 2012 to 2015, and as a member of Norway's delegation to the Scientific Committee for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. Kovacs has held offices of Chairman to the Academic User's Board of the Huntsman Marine Science Centre (1985– 1992), a member of the Board of Directors for the Huntsman Marine Science Centre (1990–1994), was the secretary of the Canadian National Council for the International Union of Biological Studies (NSERC) from 1989 to 1992, and editorial board Member for the

Canadian Journal of Zoology The ''Canadian Journal of Zoology'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that covers zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classificatio ...

from 1990 to 1994, a board member for the Arctic Light and Heat (ALV) Programme from Jan 1997– December 31, 2002, at the Norwegian National Research Council, the president of the International Society for Marine Mammalogy from 2004 to 2006 and is still a member of its scientific advisory council and conservation council, a member of the Arctic Climate Biodiversity's Impact Assessment Working Group, as well as a contributing author to the ACIA (

Arctic Climate Impact Assessment The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) is a study describing the ongoing climate change in the Arctic and its consequences: rising temperatures, loss of sea ice, unprecedented melting of the Greenland ice sheet, and many impacts on ecosystems ...

) report in Chapter 9: Marine Systems and Chapter 11: Management and Conservation of Wildlife in a Changing Arctic Environment. Kovacs was a committee member in 2003–2006 for the

Natural Environment Research Council The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is a British Research Councils UK, research council that supports research, training and knowledge transfer activities in the environmental sciences. History NERC began in 1965 when several envir ...

(NERC, United Kingdom) Special Committee on Seals (SCOS). Kovacs was an International coordinator for the Ringed Seal Circumpolar Network at the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) from 2000 to 2008, a member and leader of the Impacts on Sea Ice Reductions in the NorACIA (Norwegian Arctic Climate Impact Assessment) – Group III, as well as a member of the Barend Sea Advisory Group at NorACIA. Kovacs is currently on the steering committee for the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

Species Survival Commission (SSC) Climate Change Specialist Group, a member of the Biodiversity Centre Programme Scientific Committee (Polar Environmental Centre) since 2001, has been on the Scientific Advisory Board Member for the American Cetacean Society since 2004, serves on the Committee for Scientific Advisers and the Conservation Committee for the

, is a member of the Norwegian Scientific Academy for Polar Research and is on the EU Life Sciences Standing Committee, representing Norway. Kovacs was also the leader of Marine Mammals Exploring the Oceans Pole to Pole (MEOP) project during the

International Polar Year The International Polar Years (IPY) are collaborative, international efforts with intensive research focus on the polar regions. Karl Weyprecht, an Austro-Hungarian naval officer, motivated the endeavor in 1875, but died before it first occurred ...

, and worked on the Barents Sea walrus Ecology project, which focused on studying stock structure, movement patterns and general ecology of Barents Sea walruses in collaboration with Russia (2014–15) and on Pechora walrus abundance, which focused on the abundance determination of Pechora Sea walruses in collaboration with Russia (2011–12).

Awards and honors

* Lakehead University Graduate Entrance Scholarship (1979/80) * Thunder Bay Field Naturalists' Award (1980/81) * Ontario Graduate Scholarship (1980–1982) * AOU Best Student Paper Award (1081/81) * Multiple NSERC Postgraduate Science Scholarships (1981/82, 1982/83, 1983/84) * Commonwealth Scholarship (1982/83) * University of Guelph Graduate Fellowship (1982/83) * Norman James Aquatic Mammals Fellowship in 1985 * NSERC/NATO Postdoctoral Fellowship (1986/87)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kovacs, Kit German women scientists 21st-century Norwegian women scientists Canadian women biologists 20th-century Canadian women scientists 21st-century Canadian women scientists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Canadian mammalogists Canadian expatriates in Norway York University alumni Lakehead University alumni University of Guelph alumni Academic staff of the University of Waterloo Academic staff of the University Centre in Svalbard 20th-century German scientists 21st-century German biologists 20th-century Canadian biologists 21st-century Canadian biologists 21st-century Norwegian biologists German emigrants to Canada German mammalogists 20th-century German women 20th-century Norwegian women 20th-century Norwegian people 21st-century German women