Before joining the MOI, Dr. Bhikajee was Associate Professor at the University of Mauritius where he had been working since 1988. He has carried out consulting assignments for the Commission de l'Océan Indien, GEF, UNEP and UNDP. He was elected Vice President of the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association from 2007 to 2009. He joined the MOI in October 2003 as Adviser and was appointed Director in April 2004. He is presently the Chairman of the Indian Ocean Global Ocean Observation System (IO-GOOS). GOOS is a permanent global system for observations, modeling and analysis of marine and ocean variables to support operational ocean services worldwide. GOOS is sponsored by IOC, UNEP, WMO and ICSU.

Mr. Badal joined the public sector in April 1988. He started as statistician at the Central Statistical Office where he worked until 1999. Mr. Badal received his Master degree from the University of Mauritius in Applied Mathematics and modelling and embarked in a new career in 1999 as Project Officer at the Mauritius Oceanography Institute. He obtained his second Master degree after studying oceanography at the Southampton Oceanography Centre. For his MSc thesis, Mr. Badal carried out research on the Mascarene Plateau through the application of satellite imagery. In May 2007, he was seconded for 1-year as Programme Specialist at the Perth UNESCO/ICG/IOTWS Secretariat office to assist in the setting up of the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System. He is presently involved as the technical team leader in the Continental Shelf Project, the AMESD Project, in Ocean Remote Sensing and in Oceanographic Data Management. In April 2009, he was promoted to the post of Principal Research Scientist.

Since the year 2000, Dr. Marie has been with the MOI as Project Officer. He is presently responsible for 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. Marie was promoted to the post of Principal Research Scientist in April 2009.

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 as Project Officer in October 2001. She was appointed Principal Research Scientist in April 2009. 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 (now re-styled as Systems Administrator). He has several years of experience in the field of Information Technology. Mr. Martial has set up the server and local area network of the Institute. He has also devised the software for the electronic attendance system and a platform for document sharing on the LAN.

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 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". He has also published several research papers.

Before joining the Mauritius Oceanography Institute, Mr. Singh has been working in the private sector for more than four years. He joined the MOI in July 2008 as a Research Scientist. For his MSc, he undertook research studies on Experimental Petrology and Mathematical Geology on 'Ultrahigh Temperature Metamorphism”. Currently, he is involved in the Continental shelf Project of the Republic of Mauritius and is working on the Study of the Quaternary Geomorphology of Mauritrius and Rodrigues.

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 followed 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 as 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 is currently registered for a PhD in Marine Geosciences/Geophysics at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris.

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

After his studies, Mr. Beedessee was a trainee in the Molecular Ecology Laboratory at National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore, India. He then worked as an Education Officer for six months before joining the Mauritius Oceanography Institute as an Associate Research Scientist to screen the anticancer activities of marine natural products.

Mrs. Rashmee Surnam-Boodhun worked as Technical Assistant at the Food Technology Laboratory, Ministry of Agro-Industry and Fisheries for one year before joining the Mauritius Oceanography Institute in August 2008. She has been appointed as Associate Research Scientist in Chemical Oceanography and is currently undertaking research in the field of marine natural products.

Mr. Ramanjooloo joined the Mauritius Oceanography Institute in July 2009 as Associate Research Scientist in Chemical Oceanography. Before joining the MOI, he has worked as Project Assistant for two months at the University of Mauritius in the extraction and characterization of natural biopolymers from seaweeds. He is now working in the Marine Natural Products research group.

Mr. Bacha Gian has worked for seven months as Laboratory 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 Associate Research Scientist in Marine Biology in October 2008 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 followed a one year training at Beach Authority under the Skills Development Programme and worked at the Mauritius Research Council before joining the Mauritius Oceanography Institute as Research Assistant. He has been appointed Associate Research Scientist in October 2008 and is presently working on the project for setting up a 'Pilot Farm for Pearl Culture'.

Dr. Runghen joined the Mauritius Oceanography Institute in January 2008 as Research Assistant. He is interested in the study of ocean\coastal hydrodynamics, oil spill trajectory modelling using numerical models and environmental impact assessment. He also has experience in GIS and remote sensing. Dr. Runghen was appointed Associate Research Scientist in January 2009.

Mr. Rawat joined the Mauritius Oceanography Institute in February 2008 as Research Assistant in Satellite Oceanography and has been working mainly on the Continental Shelf Project. He holds a master’s degree in mathematical modelling and mechanical engineering from the University of Bordeaux I. He was appointed Associate Research Scientist in February 2009.

Mr. Bhoyroo joined the Mauritius Oceanography Institute in April 2008 as Research Assistant in Marine Biology. He is assisting in the 'Project on coral farming for tourism, export, education, research and conservation' and on 'Genetic connectivity and its implications for the design and management of marine protected areas in the East African Ecoregiongenetic'. He is presently registered for a Ph.D at the University of Mauritius. He was appointed Associate Research Scientist in April 2009.

Mr. Curpen worked as a Research Assistant for the MOI from September 2002 to December 2003 before proceeding for further studies in the UK. After his master’s degree, he worked as a science technician for the Imperial College of London, UK and as a bioinformatician for the University of Wits, South Africa before taking employment as Associate Research Scientist at MOI in October 2009. Mr. Curpen is at present working on the molecular barcoding of marine organisms project and also assisting in the coral farming project.

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