Oluwabunmi Victoria FATOYINBO
Bio
Victoria is a result-oriented researcher with academic and research experience in marine science, fisheries management, and marine conservation. She holds a master’s degree in Inland and Coastal Fisheries Management from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. She also has a second masters degree from the Erasmus Mundus Joint MSc in Marine Environment and Resources at the University of the Azores (Portugal), the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU, Spain), and the University of Liège (Belgium).
Victoria’s MSc thesis at UPV/EHU was on the subject of “Present and Future Habitat Suitability for Coral Black Band Disease”. Her research interests include marine ecosystem dynamics, ecological modelling, climate change impacts, and fisheries management. Through her work in marine science, she aims to provide scientific evidence that supports the development of effective marine policies and conservation initiatives.
MESCAL research activities
The main objective of Victoria’s PhD project is to use larval dispersal models to assess the value of marine protected areas (MPAs) along the coast of East Africa for assuring the resilience of coastal marine fish populations to climate change via the export of more genetically, and therefore more physiologically, diverse individuals from MPAs via larval dispersal. This work will assess the value of existing MPAs as a buffer against the significant changes in oceanic conditions predicted for the region over the next 80 years, as well as identify additional spatial zones that may merit protection in the future to stabilize marine communities and assure food production and livelihoods in the region.