Maude Jolly is an environmental policy expert with ten years of experience within the French Ministry of Environment before joining the OSPAR Secretariat in summer 2024. Originally trained in environmental economics and natural resources, she has dedicated her professional career to the protection of nature. Maude began her career as a water economics expert, leading a national network of economists to ensure the preservation of freshwater resources. She then worked as an economic analyst in the transport sector, providing robust quantitative analysis to guide the transition of the French car fleet towards carbon neutrality. She later served for four years as a marine and polar policy advisor. In this role, she defined and defended the positions of her ministry and of France in international conventions and processes relating to the protection of the Ocean and Polar regions. She has been co-head of the French delegation and Vice-chair to the OSPAR Commission, the sea convention for the protection of the North-East Atlantic. She has also been a member of the French delegation responsible for environmental issues at the Convention for the conservation of Antarctic marine living resources (CCAMLR) and the French representative to the Committee for Environmental Protection of the Antarctic Treaty. During the negotiation of the UN BBNJ Agreement, Maude was the national expert in charge of the chapters relating to area-based management tools and environmental assessments. In 2024, Maude joined the OSPAR Secretariat as the Deputy Secretary responsible for OSPAR’s Environmental Impacts of Human Activities Committee (EIHA) and its subsidiary groups. In this role, she supports the OSPAR Commission’s work across a wide range of issues, including marine litter, underwater noise, offshore renewables, and ballast water and biofouling management. Throughout her career, Maude has developed a thorough understanding of the complex environmental challenges facing the world’s Ocean and Polar regions, particularly the impacts of human activities and the urgent need for sustainable practices.