PhD in Marine Science – 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.
Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), MARBEC mixed research unit (France), and Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI, Kenya).
Applications are open for a fully funded PhD bursary focused on marine connectivity, fisheries, and climate resilience in East African Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). 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.
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, South Africa and France.
The thesis will use larval dispersal models to examine how exchange of larval fish from protected to exploited areas can increase overall climate change resilience of exploited marine fishes along the East African coast. In addition to developing larval dispersal models and assessments of MPA networks, the student will contribute to project fieldwork to collect physiological and genetic data that will form the basis of the modeling work.
The thesis directors are David M. Kaplan (IRD, MARBEC, France), Christophe Lett (IRD, MARBEC, France), and Gladys Okemwa (KMFRI, Kenya). The PhD duration is 3 years (2026–2028), with an expected start date of September 1, 2026.
Thesis subjects of research:
Funding package:
Eligibility conditions:
Desired qualifications:
Mombasa, Kenya (50%) and Sète, France (50%), with fieldwork trips to South Africa, Mozambique and Tanzania.
Not specified.
Interested 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, a detailed CV, names and contact information for 2–4 professional references, and most recent course grades and class rankings. After the deadline, a selection committee will review applications and select candidates for interviews via video conference.
10/03/2026.
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