Dedicated to excellence

Yesterday the European Union celebrated the one hundred thousandth fellow benefiting from the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions.

To mark this milestone in the history of the Marie SkłodowskaCurie Actions, 30 highly promising researchers have been selected to showcase the EU's actions dedicated to excellence and worldwide mobility in research.

Since the launch of the programme 20 years ago, the share of female participants has been exceptionally high and 18 of the selected researchers are women.

The Maltese representative is Marija Sciberras.

Maltese scientist Marija Sciberras has a particular interest in seagrass meadows. These habitats found around coastal waters are hugely beneficial to fisheries, as they provide rich feeding areas capable of supporting a wide diversity of fish. They also play a vital role in maintaining a sustainable marine environment.

Worryingly however, these habitats have been in decline worldwide for years. Scientists do not at present have the data to fully understand how this will impact fisheries and the marine environment as a whole, but Sciberras intends to find out.

A Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship grant will enable her to study seagrass meadows off Spain’s Balearic Islands. She will assess the economic as well as environmental impact of seagrass meadow decline, and focus in particular on the roles these meadows play as nurseries for juvenile fish, and in sustaining adult fish populations.

Findings from this project will be used to strengthen the conservation and management of these habitats across Europe, and to support implementation of the EU’s Marine Strategy Framework Directive, intended to achieve Good Environmental Status in all waters across EU countries by 2020.

Marija said: “Originally from Malta, I have been living and working as a researcher in marine ecology in the UK for the last seven years. My research mainly focuses on gaining a quantitative understanding of the effects of disturbance (in particular fishing) on the biodiversity and functioning of marine benthic communities, and on assessing management tools for mitigating these effects.

To date, most of my work has been in temperate waters. My Marie-Curie project is a great opportunity for me to expand my current knowledge of marine ecosystems to include others in warmer waters; seagrass beds in the Mediterranean Sea.

Other than marine research, I am also passionate about rock climbing, hill walking and SCUBA diving.