Bjarte Bogstad has worked at the Institute of Marine Research, Bergen, Norway since 1988. He has a Ph. D. from the University of Bergen (1997). Title of thesis: "Multispecies models for the Barents Sea". Kjartan Magnusson was the first opponent to the thesis. His main fields of work have been multispecies modelling of fish and marine mammal stocks in the Barents Sea and adjacent areas, as well as fish stock assessment and management. He will be co-chair of the new ICES Working Group on Multispecies Assessment Methods from 2007 onwards.