My path

I was among the first group of students the Somali Government sent abroad to study marine science, through a scholarship program sponsored by the Government of Sudan. I earned my BSc (Honours) in Marine Science from the Faculty of Marine Sciences and Fisheries at Red Sea University, specializing in biological oceanography.

After graduating, I moved to the Philippines for my master's in Marine Biology at the Silliman University Institute of Environmental and Marine Sciences. There I work with genomic data from historical and contemporary specimens as part of the Philippines PIRE Project.

Rebuilding marine research in Somalia

Somalia sits on the northwest Indian Ocean and has the longest coastline in mainland Africa. Yet its marine environment remains largely unstudied, mainly because of decades of political instability and a shortage of specialized research institutes and local marine scientists.

In recent years, universities in Mogadishu have begun offering marine science degrees again, including Somali National University, which reopened in 2014 after years of closure during the civil war. These programs still lack research infrastructure and facilities.

One of my aims as a marine biologist is to help revitalize marine research in Somalia and lead pioneering projects there. I'm building collaborative partnerships with marine researchers around the world and connecting them with universities back home.

If you're interested in collaborating on research in Somalia, please get in touch. I'd be glad to hear from you.

What I'm doing now

Most of my time goes to coding, learning genomic data analysis, and writing my thesis. In my spare time, I help with restoration efforts at the National Museum of Somalia and work on starting new collaborative research projects.