Before joining the MOI, Dr. Bhikajee was Associate Professor at the University of Mauritius where he has been working for the past 14 years. He has also been a consultant to the Commission de l'Océan Indien, UNEP, UNDP and to various firms. He is the Vice President of the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association which groups more than one thousand marine scientists from eastern Africa and the western Indian Ocean Islands. He joined the MOI in October 2003 as Adviser and was appointed Director in April 2004.

Mr. Badal joined the public sector in 1988, and was working until 1999 as statistician at the Central Statistical Office before embarking in his new career as Project Officer at the Mauritius Oceanography Institute. For his MSc thesis, he undertook research studies on the Mascarene Plateau through the application of satellite imagery. He is mostly involved in Ocean Remote Sensing and Oceanographic Data Management.

Dr. Poonyth is interested in the study of invasive marine species by ballast water and attached to ships hulls. She is currently leading a sensitisation programme on the protection of the lagoon and reefs around Mauritius. Asha is also interested in the biology of deep-sea organisms.

Since the year 2000, Dr. Marie has been with the MOI as Project Officer and presently leading the activities related to Marine Chemistry. He was awarded the Young Investigator award in 2001 during the 2nd International Meeting of the Society for Free Radical Research (SFRR). His interest includes studying the medicinal properties of bioactive compounds from marine organisms and the distribution of pollutants in the lagoon.

Dr. Kamla Ruby Moothien Pillay has worked at the Albion Fisheries Research Centre as a Scientific Officer for 10 years prior to joining the Mauritius Oceanography Institute in October 2001. Her research interests are mainly in coral biology, coral reef ecology, and evolutionary and population genetics. She has published several research papers and has co-authored a book on 'Biostatistics' . She is the main author of "The Field Guide to Corals of Mauritius".

Mr. Martial has been working in the private sector before joining the Mauritius Oceanography Institute in February 2005 as Project Officer in IT. He has more than 8 years of experience in the field of Information Technology.

Mr. Javed Mosaheb has worked as adviser at the Albion Fisheries Research Centre for 8 years before joining the Mauritius Oceanography Institute in June 2005. His research interests are mainly in the field of Environmental Impact Assessment, Coastal Erosion and Marine Ecology. He was the focal point person for Mauritius for COI/EU for the Coral Reef Monitoring Regional Project . He is the main author of a book on "Biostatistics" and co-author of the "Field Guide to Coastal Fishes of Mauritius" and published several research papers in various fields of Marine Science.

Mr. Motah was initially a trainee in the field of Satellite Oceanography at the Mauritius Oceanography Institute. He has been recently appointed as Associate Research Scientist in the same field of work.

After his studies, Mr. Mussai has undergone a one year training at Albion Fisheries Research Center under the Skills Development Programme. He joined the Mauritius Oceanography Institute in May 2005 as Research Assistant and has worked on the project 'Database of Marine Organisms'. He has been recently appointed as Associate Research Scientist.

Mr. Bissessur joined the Mauritius Oceanography Institute in December 2005 as a trainee in Remote Sensing and has been working mainly in the field of Satellite Oceanography. He has been appointed Research Assistant in Physical Oceanography in April 2006 for the project entitled "Study of the lagoon-beach interactions at specific sites around Mauritius". Mr. Bissessur is now an Associate Research Scientist at the MOI and he is currently undertaking a PhD in Marine Geosciences/Geophysics at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris.

Mr. Ramchandur has worked as Education Officer for almost one year before joining the Mauritius Oceanography Institute in May 2006. He has been appointed as Research Assistant in Physical Oceanography and is working on the project ‘Bathymetric survey of the shallow lagoons of Mauritius and Rodrigues’.

Mr. Bacha Gian has worked for a period of seven months as Lab Chemist / Microbiologist at the Universal Breweries Ltd before joining the Mauritius Oceanography Institute in May 2007 as a trainee under the Government Empowerment Programme. He has been appointed as Research Assistant in Marine Biology in October 2007 and is actually assisting in the project entitled “Development of a pilot project for coral farming for tourism, export, education, research and conservation”.

Mr. Sadasing has undergone a one year training at Beach Authority under the Skills Development Programme. He has worked at the Mauritius Research Council. He has recently joined the Mauritius Oceanography Institute as Research Assistant and is working on the project 'Pearl Culture'.

Mr. Samyan, seconded for duty from the Ministry of Fisheries as diver, has been appointed as Technical Assistant/Senior Technical Assistant in November 2005.