Wout Van Echelpoel is an environmental data scientist and postdoctoral fellow with research experience in freshwater ecology through field-based monitoring and data-driven modelling. He is part of the Aquatic Ecology research group at Ghent University, where he also received his PhD in bioscience engineering for studying habitat suitability and competitive characteristics of aquatic macrophytes. Subsequently, he contributed significantly to an extensive description of the ecological status and functioning of the Scheldt ecosystem in collaboration with HKV, Antea Group Belgium and Waardenburg Ecology (2020-2023). He is currently active as MSCA postdoctoral fellow within the HydroCORE project and investigates the environmental impact of hydropower infrastructure on the aquatic ecosystem in the Ecuadorian Andes (2023-2026).