PhD Position in Marine Connectivity and Climate Change Resilience in East African MPAs (IRD/KMFRI - MESCAL Project)

Job title

PhD Opportunity: Marine connectivity in a network of marine protected areas (MPAs) as a key factor for assuring climate change resilience in the marine ecosystems of East Africa.

Company

IRD (Institut de recherche pour le développement) - MARBEC, France / Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI), Kenya.

Description of the job

The international MESCAL project is recruiting a PhD student to work on marine connectivity and climate change resilience across networks of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) along the East African coast. The PhD will focus on larval dispersal modelling to assess the climate change resilience of exploited marine fish populations, integrating genetic and physiological traits associated with climate resilience.

Scientific Context:

Climate change threatens the long-term sustainability of marine ecosystems. Although Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are recognized as an effective tool to protect harvested species and biodiversity, they were generally not explicitly designed to increase the resilience of marine ecosystems to climate change. Marine connectivity via larval dispersal plays a pivotal role by potentially ensuring that individuals from climate or fishing refugia can repopulate impacted areas. These questions are particularly important in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO), given that warming and fishing exploitation in this region are increasing at an alarming rate.

Project Objectives:

The main objective of this PhD project is 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.

The PhD will be carried out within the wider MESCAL project, an international project with an approximately €1 million budget. MESCAL will focus on two commercially important and heavily exploited East African fish species (Diplodus capensis, blacktail; and Lutjanus fulviflamma, dory snapper) and includes collaborators from Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa, in addition to France.

Research Activities:

• Developing larval dispersal models and assessments of MPA networks.
• Contributing to project fieldwork to collect physiological and genetic data that will form the basis of the modeling work.
• Participating in MESCAL project meetings and publication and diffusion of results.

Supervision Team:

• David M. Kaplan (IRD, MARBEC, France) - Director.
• Christophe Lett (IRD, MARBEC, France) - Director.
• Gladys Okemwa (KMFRI, Kenya) - Director.
• Additional advisers: Bernardino Malawene (InOM, Mozambique; NMU, South Africa), Thomas Lamy (IRD, MARBEC, France), James Mwaluma (KMFRI, Kenya), Barnabas Tarimo (UDSM, Tanzania).

Hosting Arrangements:

The student will be based 50% of the time at the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI) in Mombasa, Kenya and 50% of the time at the Marine Biodiversity Exploitation and Conservation (MARBEC) mixed research unit in Sète, France, with regular research and fieldwork trips to other MESCAL project partners in South Africa, Mozambique and Tanzania.

Funding:

IRD ARTS bursary includes stipend, insurance and one round-trip airline ticket per year from France to Kenya. Student stipend amount is adjusted based on the living costs of the country where the student is based at a given moment. Additional research costs will be covered by the MESCAL project.

Expected PhD start date: September 1, 2026. Duration: 3 years (2026-2028).

Requirements

Eligibility:

• Candidates must originate from one of the partner nations of the IRD.
• Must possess a Master's degree in marine science, ecology, bioinformatics, oceanography or other related fields.

Desired Qualifications:

• Master's degree with coursework in or exposure to marine population dynamics, ecological modeling, statistics and population genetics.
• Previous use of R, Python or Matlab is highly desirable.
• Strong teamwork skills, including a positive attitude, professional demeanor and good communication skills.
• A strong desire to live and work in France, Kenya and other MESCAL partner countries.
• Proficiency in scientific communication and writing in English.

Candidates from Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa are highly encouraged to apply.

Location

Mombasa, Kenya (50%) and Sète, France (50%), with fieldwork in Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa.

Salary

Not specified. 

How to apply

Applicants should send an email on or before March 10, 2026 with subject "MESCAL ARTS connectivity PhD application" to david.kaplan@ird.fr containing: a letter of motivation (including discussion of interest in this particular project and relevant background), a detailed CV, names and contact information for 2-4 professional references, and most recent course grades and class rankings.

Deadline

10/03/2026.

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