Vânia Baptista, has won the fifth edition of the FLAD Science Award Atlantic. The 300,000 euro prize will support a project focused on the migration of marine species and empowering local communities to manage ecosystems sustainably.
Vânia Baptista joined CCMAR in 2015 as a PhD student through the ECOREACH group, and in 2022 she took on a role as a Junior Researcher in addition to also being a visiting assistant professor at UAlg. Our researcher is also UALG's representative on the Future Leadership Forum at the European University of the Seas (SEA-EU).
Now, Vânia has been awarded the Luso-American Development Foundation prize for her work, which represents a strong contribution to research on the Atlantic and its ecosystems.
In close collaboration with the main research centers in the USA, FLAD aims to support and distinguish young academics, with the aim of promoting the new generation of researchers in Portugal. With this award, our researcher will be able to launch the Finding Home project, which aims to discover which processes control the fate of fish larvae during migrations between spawning and nursery areas, known as the “lost phase”.
As this is a multidisciplinary project that combines behavioral, molecular, modeling and management analyses, while also integrating the knowledge of local communities in Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe, Dominica, in collaboration with the United States, FLAD's recognition and the awarding of this prize to Vânia Baptista falls within the following key areas of research:
- Future impact of climate change on human populations in Atlantic coastal regions and design of mitigation or adaptation actions, including citizen participation;
- Assessing the value of the Atlantic in terms of natural heritage and ecosystems, particularly in terms of its contribution to the Blue Economy;
- New approaches to planning, observation and management of the Atlantic area.
“In addition to developing scientific knowledge, this project will contribute to a better understanding of local communities in relation to the protection of ecosystems, contributing to the progress of Small Island Developing States such as São Tomé and Príncipe and Dominica,” says Vânia, the main coordinator of another project (LittleFish-STP) in São Tomé, which also studies the fish larvae of important commercial species in that region. These two projects are the continuation of the researcher's PhD.
Collaboration with American partners is fundamental, in this case Vânia highlights the contributions of Professor Claire B. Paris, an oceanographer with a distinguished background in larval ecology, coastal oceanography and numerical modeling. Paris, an oceanographer with a distinguished background in larval ecology, coastal oceanography and numerical modeling:
“Her knowledge of the behavior and dispersal of fish larvae, combined with the pioneering tools she has developed to study the behavior and orientation of these early stages of the marine fish life cycle, will be essential to the success of the project and to my development as a scientist,” she says.
Throughout the project, Vânia hopes to increase knowledge about the “lost phase” of fish larvae, namely their behavior, orientation, swimming and habitat choice; to contribute to sustainable fisheries management, and the protection and conservation of vulnerable marine ecosystems in the Atlantic Ocean, as well as to foster the development of local communities, through their direct inclusion in planning, data collection, discussion of results, and the development of management measures.
The study of the Atlantic is fundamental to understanding very diverse and multidisciplinary areas with an impact on the sustainability of the planet and our quality of life, from the interaction between the oceans, the atmosphere and space, to climate change, natural phenomena and sustainability.
With the creation of this award, FLAD aims to promote the new generation of Portuguese scientists and support projects with a strong focus on achieving practical results, such as the creation of engineering and technologies that facilitate our understanding and exploration of Atlantic ecosystems.
