Bhavnah is a marine scientist with multidisciplinary expertise in marine and coastal ecology, environmental monitoring, science-to-policy translation, and research coordination. She holds a BSc (Hons) and MSc in Marine Science, a Graduate Diploma in Research Methods, and is completing her PhD at James Cook University on Marine Invasive Species and Biosecurity in Small Island Developing States, incorporating both social science and technical marine research.

Prior to her PhD, she worked as a Fisheries Technical Officer at the Mauritian Ministry of Blue Economy’s Albion Fisheries Research Centre for three years, supporting fisheries management, food security, and community engagement through monitoring harmful algal blooms, screening fish for ciguatoxin, and training fishers and skippers.  She then served four years as a Marine Scientist with the Ministry’s Shipping Division, leading national monitoring programs on marine bioinvasion and pollution and coordinating the GEF-UNDP-IMO GloFouling project to assess biofouling readiness and strengthen marine biosecurity and environmental monitoring initiatives.

She has extensive experience collaborating with governments, UN agencies (UNEP, UNDP, IMO), and NGOs. Her work spans the Small Island Developing States of the Caribbean, Pacific, Africa, Atlantic, Indian Ocean and South China Sea regions, as well as Australia, providing a strong foundation in cross-cultural collaboration, marine resource management, fisheries science, marine biosecurity and livelihood protection.

Affiliation: JCU Centre for Tropical Biosecurity, Member