Fungal Conservation Committee
Huzefa Raja
About Us
The Fungal Conservation Committee (FunCC) is a group of expert volunteers dedicated to the conservation of Fungi. The FunCC is part of the Species Survival Commission (SSC) within the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The FunCC envisions a world where Fungi and their habitats are highly valued and conserved to the benefit of the environment and society.
To achieve this vision, the FunCC focuses on its mission to raise awareness about the importance of Fungi and foster action to ensure their persistence and continued benefits to the environment and society.
The FunCC aims to build upon the opportunity presented by the growing awareness of the importance of Fungi and the need to conserve them within the IUCN, conservation community, mycological community, and public at large.
The FunCC serves as the focal point for fungal conservation within the SSC Steering Committee, other areas of IUCN, the broader conservation community, policy makers, and the public. The FunCC provides support to specialist groups with expertise in Fungi from specific habitats, countries, or taxonomic groups.
Where we're based
Who we are
Gregory M. Mueller (Chair)
Greg is chief scientist and Negaunee vice president of science, at the Chicago Botanic Garden where he leads the plant and fungal conservation science and research and graduate student training programs. His research focuses on the evolution, ecology, and conservation of fungi, especially mushrooms. He has carried out fieldwork throughout the world, with a focus on the Americas, China, and Australasia. He has authored six books/book length volumes and more than 100 journal articles. Along with colleague Anders Dahlberg, he coordinates the Global Fungal Red List Initiative. Greg is past president of the Mycological Society of America, a lecturer at the University of Chicago, and an adjunct professor at both the University of Illinois at Chicago and Northwestern University. He is a member of the IUCN SSC Steering Committee, IUCN SSC regional chair North America and the Caribbean, and chairs the IUCN SSC Fungal Conservation Committee and Mushroom, bracket and puffball Specialist Group.
Giuliana Furci (Deputy Chair)
Giuliana Furci is a field mycologist, fungal activist, author and foundress and director of the Fungi Foundation, the first NGO dedicated to fungal conservation in the world. She is an associate at Harvard University, a National Geographic Explorer, a Dame of the Order of the Star of Italy and the deputy chair of the IUCN Fungal Conservation Committee. Giuliana is the author of several works, including a series of three field guides to Chilean fungi. She has co-authored peer-reviewed publications, among them the paper that delimits the term “Funga,” the 3F Proposal (Fauna, Flora & Funga), and the State of the World’s Fungi report (Kew, 2018).
Ahmed M. Abdel-Azeem
Ahmed is a professor of mycology at botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, Suez Canal University in Egypt. He is the founder of Arab Society for Fungal Conservation and executive Committee member of IMA (2018-2022). He is a Founder member of International Society for Fungal Conservation, Member in European Mycological Association, Member in Mycological Society of America. Abdel-Azeem founded Egypt's National Fungus day and many mycologists' networks like Egyptian, Iraqi , Algerian and Pakistani networks. He is the founder of Pan Arab Mycologists.
ِAbdel-Azeem with particular interest in the ecology, taxonomy, biology, and conservation of fungi and his specialist interest is members of the phylum Ascomycota. He is a member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission Specialist Group for Cup Fungi, Truffles & their Allies.
Aída Vasco-Palacios
Aída is a Colombian mycologist. Currently, she works for the School of Microbiology at Universidad de Antioquia UdeA (Medellín, Colombia) where she conducts research and teaching on fundamental and applied mycology. She is broadly interested in diversity, ecology, and systematics of tropical fungi, mainly macrofungi. Recently, she is also exploring the potential use of these fungal diversity. Aída, is the fungal curator of the Microorganism collection (CM-EM-UdeA), at Universidad de Antioquia UdeA. At present, she is also the chairwoman of the Colombian Association of Mycology (ASCOLMIC 2020-2022). Aída is part of the Mushroom, Bracket and Puffball and Cup-fungi, Truffles and Allies specialist groups -IUCN.
Arsen Gasparyan
Arsen is an Assistant Professor and Biodiversity Expert at the American University of Armenia (AUA) Acopian Center for the Environment. Since 2020, he has also led the Lichen Research and Conservation Group at the A. Takhtajyan Institute of Botany, NAS RA, bringing together seven young and promising specialists in the fields of mycology and lichenology. He previously served as the Director of the A. Takhtajyan Institute of Botany, where he oversaw the management of Armenia’s three botanical gardens. He also worked as a Conservation Officer at the WWF Armenia branch. Currently, he is also a member of the IUCN SSC Lichen Specialist Group. In addition to his research activities, Arsen is actively involved in various conservation initiatives, including policy development efforts aimed at promoting the conservation of funga in Armenia.
Becky Yahr
Becky is the Lichen Biodiversity Scientist at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, UK. Her research focusses on the diversity, detection and conservation of lichenized fungi using traditional survey, taxonomic and genetic tools. Current projects focus on temperate rainforest and montane lichens and harnessing genetic resources in fungal collections. Becky is currently Chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission Lichen Specialist Group and Associate Editor of the Lichenologist and Edinburgh Journal of Botany. She is committed to public outreach and education, currently serving as Course Coordinator for the University of Edinburgh Biodiversity and Conservation of Cryptogams MSc course delivered by RBGE and active in producing guides for public education about lichens.
Cátia Canteiro
Cátia is a Portuguese conservation biologist and is the Biodiversity Conservation Strategist for the Society for the Protection of the Underground Networks (SPUN). Formerly, she was the Plants and Fungi Conservation Coordinator at the Global Centre for Species Survival at the Indianapolis Zoo, supporting the fungi and plants’ specialist groups from the IUCN Species Survival Commission. Cátia has previously worked at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, on extinction risk assessments for the IUCN Red List, and is also a certified Red List trainer, with several courses delivered in-person and online. At Kew, she also worked on the State of the World’s Plants and Fungi reports and on the Reflora project.
David Minter
David is Chair of the IUCN SSC Cup Fungus, Truffle and Allies Specialist Group. A professional mycologist specializing in non-lichen-forming ascomycetes and their conservation, he maintains the Cybertruffle website and mycological databases. A Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of Cuba, Honorary Member of the Latin-American Mycological Association, founder member and former President of the European Mycological Association, and President of the International Society for Fungal Conservation, he has carried out fieldwork and projects in many countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, India, Russia, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, Ukraine and Venezuela.
Georgina Pereira
Georgie is a desert ecologist based out of the United Arab Emirates. She specializes in mycology, fungal conservation, and environmental education. She leads the IUCN SSC Centre for Species Survival Fungi based at Terra, Expo City Dubai. As part of the Centre, she spearheads initiatives such as developing the UAE’s first fungi dataset and the Middle Eastern Fungal Database, while also supporting global fungal red list assessments. Her work bridges research, policy, and public engagement, with a strong focus on arid land fungi, ethnomycology, and nature-based solutions for climate resilience. At Terra, she designs educational programs, citizen science events and conservation workshops to support urban biodiversity. With a background in both environmental law and biodiversity conservation, and a passion for science communication, she integrates conservation strategy with storytelling to raise the profile of fungi in biodiversity planning.
Irmgard Greilhuber
Irmgard is a professor and vice-head of the Department of Botany and Biodiversity at the University of Vienna leading the mycology group, dedicating her work to ecology, systematics and conservation of fungi, mainly mushrooms. She is the author of over 200 scientific articles and published the Red List of Fungi of Austria. She is Vice-President of the European Mycological Association and president of the Austrian Mycological Society, serves on the board of the Austrian Biodiversity Council and the board of the Environmental Advisory Council of the Municipality of Vienna. She is an External expert for the Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) Berlin (Germany) and Member of the Commission Mushrooms and Mushroom Products of the Codex Alimentarius Austriacus (Austria), and member of the Scientific Committee of the Genetic Engineering Commission for Market Releases (as mycology expert), and also member of the Scientific Advisory Board Austrian Barcode of Life – initiative.
Jeff Stallman
Jeff is the fungus conservation coordinator at the Global Center for Species Survival at the Indianapolis Zoo where he supports the Fungal Conservation Committee and all IUCN SSC Specialist Groups related to Fungi. Jeff is interested in the taxonomy, systematics, biogeography, and conservation of Fungi. He has a passion for macrofungi on oceanic islands.
Jessica Allen
Jessica is the Lead Mycologist at NatureServe where she works to catalyze and support fungal conservation across North America. Her research expertise lies in the diversity, genomics, and conservation of lichens. Jessica currently serves as the Red List Authority for the SSC Lichen Specialist Group and is President Elect for the American Bryological and Lichenological Society.
Marieka Gryzenhout
Dr Gryzenhout is passionate about studying fungi (mycology). Her mycology career started when she developed a world monograph of the important tree pathogen fungal family Cryphonectriaceae. Her research instilled in her a hunger to discover fungal species, describe them and untangle taxonomic problems using a practical approach and making the knowledge available to diverse end-users who do not necessarily have the appropriate skills and background. Her current position as biosystematist in the Department of Genetics at the University of the Free State, is conducive to follow her research ideals. Currently she is working closely with a group of enthusiastic citizen mycologist from across South Africa. While they collect she helps by sequencing their samples towards joint identifications. With their help, two mushroom field guides have already been published, with one reviewed and just released with ten more species included. She also has a culture collection and studies are being conducted on these cultures and macrofungal herbarium specimens to look at various possible biotechnologicaly applications. Currently she published 85 international peer reviewed articles, three books (one has been revised and released again) and four book chapters.
Mayra Camino
Mayra is a scientific researcher in the Mycological Laboratory of the National Botanical Garden Cuba, Havana. She is an expert in myxomycete systematics and is a founding member of the Latin American Association of Mycology (ALM). She has been a researcher at the National Botanic Garden since 1985 and was the curator of the Fungarium (HAJB) from 1987 to 1992. Mayra is the co-chair of the IUCN SSC Chytrid, Zygomycete, Downy Mildew and Myxomycete Specialist Group.
Patricia Parkinson
Patricia Parkinson is a specialist in environmental and international law and policy, with extensive experience in providing legal technical assistance and capacity-building across the Asia-Pacific region. For the past decade, she has been based in Fiji, where she worked with the IUCN Oceania Regional Office before founding Environmental Law Oceania Consultancy. Patricia joined FunCC in 2022 with the aim to contribute to the recognition of fungi as a distinct and critical component of biodiversity in law and policy, advocating for the endorsement of the Fauna, Flora and Funga Initiative (3F’s) for improved biodiversity conservation outcomes at international level and in Pacific Islands region.
Rachel Hoffmann
Rachel is a Zoologist and currently the Head of Global for Plantlife, where she is expanding and developing a programme of work which matches the ambition of the organisation’s strapline “the global voice of plants and fungi”. Prior to undertaking this role, Rachel spent over a decade managing and supporting the work of the IUCN SSC groups. It was in this role she met Greg Mueller and her allegiance to the “furries” started to switch. Rachel has worked closely with Greg for a long time to help push fungi up the global conservation agenda (recently also creating the Fungi Use Group in the Sustainable Use and Livelihoods SG) and is committed to keep this work going strong.
Ricardo Drechsler-Santos
Ricardo is an associate professor in the Botany Department of Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (Florianópolis, SC, Brazil). Research in his group MIND.Funga focuses on the diversity, systematics, ecology, genomics, and conservation of macrofungi. He also teaches courses in mycology and conservation. Ricardo currently serves as co-chair for the IUCN SSC Brazil Fungal Specialist Group and is IUCN Red List Trainer and also Member of IUCN SSC Mushroom, Bracket, and Puffball Specialist Group.
Sally Fryar
Sally is co-chair of the IUCN SSC Aquatic Fungi Specialist Group and a mycologist at Flinders University, Australia. Her main research focus is documenting and describing the diversity of freshwater and marine fungi of Australia, including culturing, DNA extraction, sequencing, and phylogenetic analyses. Sally also maintains a keen interest in aquatic fungal ecology and has a passion for conservation.
Susana C. Gonçalves
Susana is a researcher at the Centre for Functional Ecology - Science for People and the Planet, at the University of Coimbra, Portugal. The research in her lab focuses on the diversity and ecology of fungi, their uses and conservation, including in applied contexts. She also keeps an active outreach program, celebrating the fungi to boost conservation. Susana is the chair of the European Council for the Conservation of Fungi (ECCF) and a member of the IUCN SSC Fungal Conservation Committee and Mushroom, bracket, and puffball Specialist Group. If not in the office or lab, you´ll probably find her looking for mushrooms somewhere around town.
Teodor T. Denchev
Teodor is Associate Professor of Mycology at the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, and Head of the Mycology Laboratory. He has a long-standing interest in phylogeny and taxonomy of the smut fungi at global scale. He has published monographs on the smut fungi of Greenland, and Anthracoidea in Japan and Korea. He also maintains an ongoing research interest in monitoring and conservation of fungal diversity, assessment of conservation status of plant parasitic fungi, and redlisting. Teo is Red List Authority Coordinator of the IUCN SSC Rusts and Smuts Specialist Group.
Tom May
Dr Tom May is a Principal Research Scientist (Mycology) at Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria in Melbourne, Australia. Tom has a passion for increasing knowledge and conservation of fungi. He has published widely on fungal taxonomy, nomenclature, ecology and conservation, and on the history of mycology, including checklists of Australian fungi, the FunKey app (interactive key to agaric genera) and Wild Mushrooming. Tom is active in science and citizen science organisations, co-founding Fungimap (the Australian fungi NGO), and currently serving as Secretary of the Nomenclature Committee for Fungi and as a member of the International Commission on the Taxonomy of Fungi.
Viviana Motato-Vásquez
Viviana Motato-Vásquez is a mycologist based in Colombia, interested in the systematics, taxonomy, and conservation of macrofungi, with a particular focus on wood-degrading fungi. As a professor and researcher, she has made contributions to the understanding of fungal biodiversity and the phylogeny of Neotropical Fungi. Viviana is also the founder of the Colombian Association of Mycology and currently serves as Co-Chair of the IUCN Colombia Fungal Specialist Group. Additionally, she is an active member of both the IUCN SSC Fungal Conservation Committee and the Mushroom, Bracket, and Puffball Specialist Group.
Elizabeth (Za) Barron
Elizabeth Barron is professor of environmental geography at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), in Trondheim, Norway and is trained as an interdisciplinary scholar with degrees in conservation biology, anthropology, forest ecology and geography. She is the chair of the Fungal Use Group, a joint venture between the FunCC and the Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Speciality Group (SULi). From 2018 - 2022 she served as coordinating lead author on the IPBES Sustainable Use Assessment, resulting in a major increase in the representation of fungi in that report. Her research interests center around the ontological politics of biodiversity conservation, with a special interest in how knowledge developed and stewarded in different scientific and lay communities can come together to produce more productive and meaningful conservation. This work extends to envisioning how fungal biology and ecology can contribute to re-thinking conversation politics and practice. Most recently, she is developing work alongside colleagues from NTNU, SULi, FUse, FunCC, and the IUCN CEESP-SSC Biodiversity and Family Planning Inter-Commission on how to co-create fungal conservation and access to public health in sub-Saharan Africa, through the sustainable use of fungal resources.
Zhu L. Yang
Zhu L. Yang is professor at Kunming Institute of Botany (KIB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He is the director of the CAS Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia. His team focuses on systematics, biogeography and conservation of macrofungi. With over 50,000 collections made by the team, the mycological herbarium of KIB has become the second largest mycological herbarium in China. He was awarded an honorary member of the Mycological Society of America in 2019. He serves as editor-in-chief of Fungal Diversity, and an editorial board member of Fungal Biology Reviews, Mycological Progress, etc.