Ursula Pena Gonzalez is a senior biodiversity and marine conservation specialist with over 25 years of international experience across more than 20 countries, working at the intersection of science, conservation, government and industry. She is a member of the IUCN Green List Expert Assessment Group (EAGL) for Saudi Arabia and was Biodiversity Advisor to the Saudi Red Sea Authority from 2023 to 2025. Her career includes 15 years in the oil and gas sector, leading biodiversity assessments, mitigation programmes and multidisciplinary teams, as well as extensive marine megafauna research from the tropics to Antarctica.

In Gabon, she worked for five years with WCS/Gabon Bleu, ultimately serving as National Coordinator of the Marine Mammal Programme, developing national marine megafauna, whale-watching and seismic guidelines, standardising marine mammal datasets and training local scientists and observers. Her scientific fieldwork includes expeditions aboard AWI's Polarstern in Antarctica, FAO-NORAD ecosystem surveys, and marine research and impact-mitigation programmes across Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas. In 2025, she was a Lead Speaker at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi on marine mammal conservation across Antarctica, Africa and the Red Sea.