I completed my Bachelor’s degree in Zoology (Hons) from the University of Royal Holloway in London in 2009. In 2011 I went on to do a Master’s degree in Marine Sciences at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia. My Master’s thesis was based on the prevalence of toxic harmful algae implicated with Ciguatera Fish Poisoning in the Central Red Sea.

In November 2014 I started a PhD within the ECOMERS laboratory. The project looks at how human impacts along coastal areas directly and indirectly change the macroalgal communities and in turn how this facilitates microalgal blooms in the North-Western Mediterranean coasts. The aim of this study, performed in the framework of the European Project M3-HABs (Monitoring, Modelling and Mitigating Harmful Algal Blooms) is to understand on a global scale the role of the macrobenthic communities in the regulation/facilitation of Ostreopsis blooms. Our findings may help us to understand the bloom dynamics of Ostreopsis and show other ecological factors contributing to the development of this new phenomenon, , which could ultimately help us control and prevent future toxic blooms in coastal areas.