Prof. Alan Deidun is Director of the International Ocean Institute - Malta Training Centre and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (London). He is also an Associate Professor at the Physical Oceanography Research Group within the Department of Geosciences of the Faculty of Science of the University of Malta, being primarily trained and with experience as a coastal and marine biologist. He sits on the Board of the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) of Malta. He holds a PhD in biology and has published over 120 peer-reviewed papers in several high-profile academic journals on various aspects of coastal and marine biology. He is currently lecturing within the Master of Science in Applied Oceanography, as well as in a number of other Masters courses at the University of Malta (including the Master in Ocean Governance). He is also currently supervising a number of number of student dissertations at Masters and PhD level and, since 2003, has contributed to numerous University taught and field courses. At the University of Malta, he has acted as Project Manager for the MED-JELLYRISK, SeaofSkills, PANACEA, BIODIVALUE and PERSEUS projects, and Coordinator of the Spot the Jellyfish and Spot the Alien Fish citizen science campaign.
He has coordinated the marine ecology section of numerous (over 30) recent Environmental Baseline Study (EBS), Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Appropriate Assessment (AA) studies in connection with large-scale projects ranging from powerstaion extensions, laying of transnational electrical cables on the seabed, development of desalination plants, development of cruise passenger terminals as well as of offshore wind farms . The main thematics which interest him are coastal (especially beach) and marine ecology, biological oceanography, ecological modeling, remote sensing monitoring of water quality, management and monitoring of marine living resources, ecology of islands, ecology of invasive species, Marine Protected Areas (MPA's), Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) and dynamics of jellyfish outbreaks.
In 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2017, he was presented with the Environmental Journalism Award for Malta by the Institute of Maltese Journalism for the environmental column he has penned in The Sunday Times of Malta since 2002.
Deidun, A. & Vella, P. Marine ecological considerations of cruise liner facilities development at two sites in the Maltese Islands. Journal of Coastal Research.
Pavesi, L., Deidun, A., DeMatthaeis, E., Tiedemann, H., Ketmaeir, V. Mitochondrial DNA and microsatellites reveal significant divergence but little geographic structure in the beachflea Orchestia montagui (Talitridae: Amphipoda). Aquatic Science.
Cilia., D. & Deidun, A. Branching out: mapping the spatial expansion of the Lessepsian invader mytilid Brachidontes pharaonis (Fischer, 1870) around the Maltese Islands. Marine Biodiversity Records.
Research work in progress:
- development of coupled BFM-POM 2D model for Dwejra area; - comparative morphometric and molecular study of the alien pearl oyster species Pinctada radiata; - comparative analyses of sediment size parameters through 3 different techniques; - characterisation of local beach meiofaunal assemblages
Affiliations and memberships: Society of Biology of London (Chartered Biologist) Marine Biological Association on the UK Estaurine, Coastal and Shelf Science Association (ECSA) Societa Italiana di Biologia Marina (SIBM)
Awards:
2007
Winner of the JCI (Junior Chamber International) Award for Moral and/or Environmental Leadership Category
2008
Winner of the Prix d'Honneur for Natural History Journalism by the NGO Din L-Art Helwa
2009
Winner of the prestigious Young Outstanding Person of the Year Award for Malta 2009; Winner of the JCI (Junior Chamber International) Award for Moral and/or Environmental Leadership Category
2009
Winner of the Prix d'Honneur for Natural History Journalism by the NGO Din L-Art Helwa
2010 Environmental Journalism Award (1st place), within annual Malta Journalism Awards organised by the Institute of Maltese Journalism
