Marine Field Station

At just 1-2 m above sea level the Maldives are at the forefront of global debate over climate change and rising sea levels. Magoodhoo island (see map below) is approximately 900 m long and 600 m wide and is home to 734 people many of whom rely on the reefs for their food. At the heart of the island is a centuries old banyan tree where today's local government offices are now found.

Each spring, MSc students have the opportunity to spend two weeks living and working on this remote coral atoll in the Indian Ocean. The course is taught by CMBB Director Prof Murray Roberts and is run on Faafu Atoll's Magoodhoo Marine Research and Higher Education Centre, operated by the University of Milano-Biocacca (Italy). The course is being run in collaboration with the University of York (Prof Callum Roberts & Dr Julie Hawkins) and teaches a suite of techniques to assess the health of tropical coral reefs through an intensive series of field practicals using both diving and snorkelling survey approaches on the reefs.