Joana Dias

I am a Marine Biologist by trade and by heart. I completed my Divemaster in Mozambique in 2011 but have overall been an avid marine biologist and diver for over 20 years, participating in marine conservation projects around the tropics (Jamaica, Panama, Indonesia and Colombia).

During my PhD at Marine Scotland Science and postdoc at the Western Australia Department of Fisheries I specialized in the development of DNA-based methods for aquaculture, fisheries and marine conservation management. I took on molecular biology because of its crucial role in addressing natural resources management and biodiversity conservation issues. I spent short periods (5 to 12 months) at DG MARE in Brussels and NOAA in the US, where I had the opportunity to develop skills on bridging research and policy. I am currently based as a postdoc researcher at the University of Southern Mississippi in the US, working on multidisciplinary projects in fisheries and endangered species conservation using environmental DNA (eDNA).

Joana Dias (researchgate.net)

A dive trip to the remote Banda Islands in 2014 have led to a continuous string of project collaborations with Mareike and Luminocean, first on invasive species (Banda Naira: Biosecurity Research 2016 - YouTube) and more recently on coral spawning. We geared up for a very well timed night dive in Banda in 2017 and witnessed mass coral spawning! It blow our mind and we have been making efforts to monitor as much as we can ever since. An exciting paper on the first records of coral spawning in the Banda Islands will be available very soon!!

January 2023