The Supervisors Group includes the supervisors of the 10 PhD candidates and oversees (working as a group) the development of their research projects.

Marie Briguglio

Roberto Casati

Hilmar Hinz

Michal Kucerak

Vesna Mačić

Milica Mandić

Maria Cristina Mangano

Stefano Malatesta

Stefano Moncada

Simone Montano

Ana Ruiz-Frau

George Tsirtsis

University of Malta
Marie Briguglio
Prof. Marie Briguglio (BCom, BA Hons, MSc, PhD) is a resident academic at the Department of Economics in the University of Malta, where she teaches Behavioural Economics, Environmental Economics and Research Methods and co-ordinates the MSc in Economics.
She returned to academia after a 15-year career in the public sector, during which time she worked in environmental management, served as UNFCCC focal point, and was highly active in Malta’s accession to the European Union. Since then she has authored over 70 research publications, secured numerous research funds (including 2 Horizon 2020 projects and the UM Excellence fund), and set up multiple collaborative public-sector research projects, including the Malta Wellbeing INDEX project (www.wellbeingindex.mt).
Marie is the Executive Director of the international Society for the Advancement of Behavioural Economics and a council member of the Malta Chamber of Scientists. She sits on the University of Malta research ethics, inter alia.
Marie is a multi-media writer (television, print-media) and enjoys sport and playing the drums. She lives in Malta with her daughter, Lilli.
She has won multiple honours and awards including awards for engaged research, for creativity and innovation, national book and broadcasting awards.

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (France)
Roberto Casati
Senior Researcher of CNRS, Professor at EHESS, director of the Jean Nicod Institute of ENS/EHESS in Paris, one of the leading research centres in cognitive science, works currently on navigation and on representations of marine environments.
He is the author of 120 research papers and book chapters on perception, spatial representation and the use of maps and images, as well as of ten books, some of which have been translated in many languages. His seminal work on Digital Colonialism has spurred a large debate on the use of technology in schools. An avid sailor, his latest achievement is a transatlantic crossing on Albatros, a Challenge 67 monohull, as a crew member and on board researcher. Albatros was 2nd in the Cruising B class of the 2019 ARC, after 17 days in the trade winds. The Cognitive Life of Maps will be published by MIT Press (2024). He is the editor of the collection The Sailing Mind (Springer, 2022) and the author of La philosophie de l’océan (Presses Universitaires de France (2022).

Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Spain)
Hilmar Hinz
Hilmar Hinz graduated in Marine Biology from Newcastle University (UK) in 1994, followed by a Master’s in Biology at the University of Oldenburg (Germany). He contributed to national and EU-funded projects at the Senckenberg Institute before joining the Coastal Resource Ecology and Management group at Bangor University (Wales, UK) in 2001, where he completed his part-time PhD in 2005 on flatfish habitat use. His subsequent research included the effects of fishing disturbance on benthic communities, the environmental impacts of aggregate extraction, and marine reserve recovery of benthic communities.

TBA21 (Spain)
Michal Kucerak
Michal Kučerák is a researcher, lecturer, and curator with a particular emphasis on art mediation and digital projects. He collaborates with a contemporary art foundation TBA21, where he contributes to their digital team, specializing in digital research and projects, specifically Ocean-Archive.org and Organismo (TBA21–Academy).
He takes part within the collective that co-organizes a festival of socially engaged design and artistic practices, Uroboros. Additionally, he is pursuing his PhD studies at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Technology in Brno.
Michal initiated a research exhibition project #DATAMAZE (DOX Centre for Contemporary Art, Prague, 2018-2022), which revolved around topics of digital and data literacy and was focused on educational activities and strengthening of our digital resilience. He is based in his studio at Petrohradská kolektiv in Prague (CZ).

University Crne Gore (Montenegro)
Vesna Mačić
Vesna Mačić was borne in Kotor (at that time Yugoslavia) in 1972 where she finished Primary and Secondary school. Faculty of Biology she finished in 1997, MA degree of Environmental Engineering (specialization in Water Quality) she got in 2001 on TEMPUS (Trans European Mobile Programs for University Studies) PhD degree in biology she got on Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad – Serbia in 2010.

University Crne Gore (Montenegro)
Milica Mandić
Milica Mandić was born in Kotor, Montenegro. Main fields of her expertise are: biology and ecology of the sea, early development stages of fishes (ichthyoplankton), population dynamics and assessment of spawning stock biomass of pelagic fishes, technology of farming of marine organisms (mariculture), marine litter, protection of marine and coastal ecosystems. She is author and/or co-author of more than 150 scientific papers, expertise and Studies in the field of marine biology and ecology, integrated coastal zone management, marine spatial planning, assessment of the state of pollution by marine litter, technical and technological projects for the cultivation of marine organisms. She participated in the implementation of over 25 national and international projects, while she was project manager on more than 15 projects, most of which international. She is the winner of the annual award of the University of Montenegro for contribution to the development of scientific and research work at the Institute of Marine Biology (2018). She is employee of the Institute of marine biology since 2006, with the position as Head of the laboratory of developmental research and mariculture since 2012, and deputy director of the Institute since 2023.

Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn | Sicily Marine Centre, Palermo (Italy)
Maria Cristina Mangano
Marine ecologist strongly interested and oriented on the study of ecological responses, with the final aim to understand the effects of drivers of change – both natural and human – on the ecosystems, as for example the exploitation of marine resources (e.g. fisheries and aquaculture) specifically under a context of global change (e.g. climate change). Maria Cristina is mostly fascinated by the study of drivers driven patterns (measured at both species level – biological traits – and community level – taxonomic and functional diversity) focusing on the disentangling of mechanisms and processes of propagation along the ecological hierarchy. Her final interest is to develop sustainable solutions to inform a proactive, adaptive and dynamic management based on the Integrated Ecosystem Approach (IEA) and on scientific evidence (evidence-based management).
To inform evidence-based management and conservation measures she mostly deploys synthesis tools (e.g. systematic review) to produce knowledge baselines, crucial to build a solid, salient and rigorous dialogue among stakeholders, the so-called “science-stakeholder-policy nexus”. She believes in the importance of engaging with stakeholders on the management of marine resources (bottom-up approach) as the first step to keep it effective and to understand the socio-ecological systems (recently approached through specific data collection and analysis tools, both quantitative and qualitative). She is chair of the WGCOMEDA at ICES, PI and coPI of several national and international projects.

Chairperson | University of Milano-Bicocca (Italy)
Stefano Malatesta
Geographer and Associate Professor at the University of Milano-Bicocca. He is member of the Board of MaRHE Center (Rep of Maldives) and former member (2018-2022) of the Executive Committee of the International Small Islands Studies Association (ISISA).
He teaches Human Geography of Small Island Systems, and Geography of Tourism. He served (2018-2021) as chair of the Working Group on Small Island and Archipelagos (AGeI). He coordinates one of the research groups of Island4Future (https://is4future.uniroma3.it/progetto). In 2017, he was awarded from the Italian Geographical Society as best under-40 geographers. His main research topics are: human geography of small islands, geopolitics of Indian Ocean, Ocean Literacy, children geographies, citizenship education and education for sustainable development.

University of Malta
Stefano Moncada
Ph.D. in Economics, Stefano lectures and conducts research in the areas of development economics, climate-change and islands and small states studies, with a focus on small island developing states. In 2022 Stefano won Malta’s Research Excellence Award focusing on small islands’ climate and health preparedness.
Stefano is the Director of the Islands and Small States Institute, Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Small States Health Systems and Policies, senior lecturer of the University of Malta, Coordinating Lead Author for the Mediterranean Experts on Climate and Environmental Change (MedECC), and acts as expert reviewer for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

University of Milano-Bicocca (Italy)
Simone Montano
Associate Professor and lecturer in Marine Biodiversity at the international Master’s Degree in Marine Sciences of the University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (DISAT), and deputy director of MaRHE center, Maldives. He is a marine biologist mainly interested in the ecology and biology of the coral reef ecosystem. His current research activities are focusing on the coral health and diseases assessment of the Republic of Maldives. Furthermore, his researches are focusing on new emerging symbioses and in developing several mitigation tools for marine habitat restoration and rehabilitation. All activities are aimed to understand the dynamics that will drive this ecosystem under a climate change scenario in order to develop and propose environmental management plans.

Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Spain)
Ana Ruiz-Frau
Interdisciplinary researcher specialising in the intersection of social sciences and ecology, with a focus on human-marine relationships, Ana earned her PhD from Bangor University, UK, where she explored integrating diverse values for coastal management. She has contributed to the Welsh Government’s policies, participated in several EU projects on marine ecosystem services, climate change, nature based solutions and marine spatial planning. She co-chairs international working groups within the Ecosystem Services Partnership. She is currently participating in the SMILES EU COST Action, aiming at enhancing ecosystem resilience and sustainability on islands.
Through her research on marine and coastal social-ecological systems. Ana seeks to understand societal interactions with the marine environment, she approaches this through the lenses of ecosystem service and nature contributions to people frameworks, prioritising the assessment of diverse values, perceptions, and social views. Her goal is to integrate these insights into management practices to promote sustainability.

University of the Aegean (Greece)
George Tsirtsis
George Tsirtsis is a Professor in Dynamics of Marine Ecosystems at the Department of Marine Sciences, University of the Aegean. He was the Director of the Franco-Hellenic M.Sc. on Biodiversity Conservation (BIODIV) from 2007 to 2014, offered by the School of the Environment, University of the Aegean, and the Faculty of Sciences, University Montpellier 2 and Dean of the School of the Environment from 2018 to 2020.
He is teaching a number of courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels on Coastal Ecology, Modelling and Dynamics of marine ecosystems. His research activities focus on coastal ecology and biodiversity issues and integrated coastal zone management. He has a long experience in EU and nationally funded research projects and he has published over 50 papers in peer-reviewed journals.