Born in Palermo (Italy) on October 24th 1983, he is currently a post-doc fellow at University of Nice (France). Master degree in Marine Biological Resources at the University of Palermo (Italy), he completed, in 2011, a Ph.D. in “Fundamental Ecology” at the University of Salento (Lecce, Italy), with a thesis entitled “Spatial connectivity and dispersal patterns to design networks of marine protected areas: the case of the white sea bream Diplodus sargus sargus (Linnaeus 1758)”.

He was visiting student in 2008 at CEAB-CSIC di Blanes (Spain) and visiting researcher in 2011 at the Southern Seas Ecology Laboratory, Adelaide (Australia).

He was involved in national and international projects on Marine Protected Areas with particular emphasis on fish dispersal at multiple life stages, reserve effect on fishes and potential effect of touristic frequentation (i.e. scuba divers) on biotic assemblages.

He is author of 34 ISI papers published in international journals and reviewer for 37 international journals.

The research activities he has carried out until now were primarily centred on 3 interrelated axes:

- Estimate patterns of connectivity and dispersal and their effect on fish populations to design effective networks of marine protected areas (MPAs)
- Assessing the effectiveness of marine protected areas (MPAs) for conservation of natural populations and management of exploited fish stocks
- Investigate MPAs, small scale fisheries (SSF) and fishing resources as a socio-ecological system (SES) integrating both natural and human components and providing ecosystem services