Short cv:

I am a final year PhD student in the field of marine biology and ecology at the University of Mauritius. I hold a BSc (Hons) degree in Biology and I have completed my masters in Marine Biology. I am currently working on the response of vulnerable marine ecosystems, such as corals reefs, to climate change. My PhD focuses on the resilience of coral reefs to global increase in Sea Surface Temperature (SST). In particular, my research aims at better understanding the different strategies (physiology, genetics, ecology) that coral reefs employ to adapt to climate change, in an attempt to ameliorate the efficiency of conventional reef conservation techniques.

During my PhD, I have won several research grants and fellowships, including the International Society for Reef Studies (ISRS) Graduate Fellowship, highly coveted among reef scientists worldwide. This allowed me to undertake a research internship at the University of Milan-Bicocca (Italy), to learn about latest molecular techniques used to assess health of coral reefs. In 2018, I had the opportunity to work on a collaborative project at the Scottish Association of Marine Science (SAMS) which aimed at investigating the anti-fouling potential of Mauritian seagrass and macroalgae. Moreover, I have been actively participating to numerous international conferences and workshops such as the 9th Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association (WIOMSA) Symposium (South Africa), the 13th International Coral Reef Symposium (Hawaii), and the Marine Science Research and Technology Conference 2016 (Malaysia), where the quality of my research work and its application received many accolades and recognition by eminent scientists.

Overall, the topics (Oceanography, Climate, Micro plastic, Remote sensing, Molecular methods and Outreach) that will be covered during the shipboard training, are directly congruent to my career goals in the field of marine conservation. Eventually, all these hands-on skills and knowledge acquired on board will contribute to my academic as well as professional development.