Hi everyone,

I am an Italian marine biologist and a few months ago I moved back to my Country after seven years spent in Ireland where I obtained a PhD in Zoology and worked in the blue biotechnology field. However, my professional background includes also marine conservation and outreach activities carried out with WWF, Seasearch Ireland and other associations. For instance, I was involved for many years in projects focused on the conservation of the Loggerhead turtle in the South of Italy while in Ireland I contributed to activities aimed at informing divers and general public about marine sponge biology and diversity. Convincing people that sponges are animals and not plants has never stopped being a challenge!

I have recently realised that I would love to reroute my carrier back towards conservation, so I figured that it would be very useful to add some GIS basics to my skills, so here I am now! Thank you so much Lucy for the opportunity to attend this free course you’re giving us, I’m looking forward to learning and interacting with the coursemates!

Maybe there is someone else here in the community who loves to play the ukulele: we’d have something else to chat about besides GIS then

Best wishes to everyone,

Maria Vittoria