Sofia Alexiou

Sofia Alexiou has worked as a project coordinator for the SOLSTICE-WIO project since August 2014. The project is a four-year collaborative effort between the UK Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) and the National Oceanography Centre. Its aim is to bring together advances in marine technologies, local knowledge and research expertise to address challenges facing the Western Indian Ocean region in a cost-effective way.

Over the course of their career, Sofia has played a key role in developing the project's state-of-the-art technology transfer, collaborative environmental and socio-economic research, and hands-on training programs. These programs have helped over 100 million people in the Western Indian Ocean region who live within 100km of the coast, with over 1 million working in the fisheries sector. The WIO is highly dependent on the ocean for economic stability, food security, and social cohesion. In recent years, the region has seen dramatic and often poorly understood reductions in key fisheries, due to the combined effects of climate change, natural ecosystem variability, overfishing and degradation of key marine habitats.

Through their work on the SOLSTICE-WIO project, Sofia has helped to build capacity for implementing an ecosystem approach to fisheries management (EAF) that is based on sound environmental and socio-economic information. This approach is critical for understanding and managing WIO fisheries and the impacts of recent and future changes in the region.

Sofia Alexiou has a Bachelor's Degree in Marine Sciences from Long Island University, Southampton Campus. Sofia also has a PMP (Project Management Professional) certification from the Project Management Institute.