Kit Kovacs

Early life and education

Although Kovacs now resides in Norway she was born in Germany and has Canadian citizenship. She received her H.B.Sc. (Biology) in 1979 from York University, Toronto. In 1982 she was awarded her M.Sc. (Biology) by the Lakehead University (Thunder Bay). Her Ph.D. (Zoology) was awarded by the University of Guelph (Guelph) in 1986.

Career and impact

Kovacs has more than 12 years teaching experience, starting as an Assistant Professor at the University of Waterloo. She is now the senior research scientist for the Biodiversity Research Programme at the Centre for Ice Climate and Ecosystems (ICE) at the Norwegian Polar Institute, as well as a professor of biology at University Studies on Svalbard (UNIS).

She has studied marine mammal population ecology, biology conservation and management for the past 30 years. Successfully having completed more than 17 research studies, she has been working on the satellite tagging of bowhead whales since 2010 and the biopsy sampling of whales since 2006. She has also worked extensively on seals.

In addition to more than 200 publications, she has also written book chapters, popular articles, reports and has given numerous plenary and video lectures. Kovacs has also successfully facilitated cooperation between the tourism industry and researchers in the Arctic region.

Kovacs has been the President of the Society for Marine Mammalogy and 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 2012-2015, and as a member of Norway’s delegation to the Scientific Committee for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.

She 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 1989-1992, and editorial board Member for the Canadian Journal of Zoology from 1990-1994, a board member for the Arctic Light and Heat (ALV) Programme from Jan 1997- Dec 31, 2002, at the Norwegian National Research Council, the president of the International Society for Marine Mammalogy from 2004-2006 and still a member of its scientific advisory council and conservation council,l a member of the Arctic Climate Biodiversity, Impact Assessment Working Group, as well as a contributing author to the ACIA (Arctic Climate Impact Assessment) 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 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 2000–2008, 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 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 Society for Marine Mammalogy, 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 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

Kovacs awards include a Lakehead University Graduate Entrance Scholarship (1079/80), a Thunder Bay Field Naturalists' Award (1980/81), an Ontario Graduate Scholarship (1980-1982), an AOU Best Student Paper Award (1081/81), multiple NSERC Postgraduate Science Scholarships (1981/82, 1982/83, 1983/84), a Commonwealth Scholarship (1982/83), a University of Guelph Graduate Fellowship (1982/83), a Norman James Aquatic Mammals Fellowship in 1985 and a NSERC/NATO Postdoctoral Fellowship (1986/87).