My name is Hiba ABYABA, 25 years old Moroccan Marine bio-ecologist, enrolled at the Italian PhD national program of “Sustainable Development and Climate Change” (PHDSDC) at the IUSS Pavia. I am hosted by the University of Cagliari (Unica), where I am doing my research on Marine ecosystems’ vulnerability to climate change impacts in an altered Mediterranean Sea, under the supervision of Professor Antonio Pusceddu.
SDC provides a large multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary branch leading the way to engage, through scientific research, in the explanation of the global climate crisis environmentally, socially, and economically. Moreover, it opens possibilities to develop creative ways and propose holistic approaches and integrative sustainable solutions. Therefore, it is one of the best ways to fulfil my scientific passion and my will to bridge marine and maritime science-based research with stakeholders and policymakers.
Currently, in collaboration with The European Topic Centre at the University of Málaga, Spain (ETC-UMA), I am working on supporting the conservation of cetaceans in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea notably the Pelagos Sanctuary and the Spanish Cetacean Corridor, within the framework of the implementation of the Pelagos agreements’ management and action plan (2022-2027), by developing spatial indicators on climate change pressures in the region subject to high level of maritime traffic stress. The ETC-UMA for Spatial Analysis and Synthesis is an international research centre supporting the development of knowledge to feed evidence-based policy. The six months abroad within the ETC-UMA will be dedicated to modelling exercises and the mapping of environmental and anthropogenic pressures affecting the future of the fin whales in the region.
With the teams’ wide expertise in a range of environmental and socio-economic domains; including land management, ecosystem services, coastal and marine studies, environmental conservation, territorial development, resource efficiency, and soil mapping, it represents such an important multidisciplinary opportunity to identify and expose the causes of ecosystem changes.
The diversity within the team is representing such a realistic approach to the real Mediterranean community. With a balanced gender ratio and a cocktail of ethnicities; from Spain, Lebanon, Germany, Tunisia, Italy and now Morocco as well, I would salute the Director and my supervisor at the ETC-UMA Dr. Dania Abdulmalak, for her rigorous international management within the centre. In a collaborative harmony and care for the work environment, I am progressively developing with the expertise of my colleagues at ETC-UMA, different skills to work on spatial data and converging to the aim of my scientific study.
Changing your environment is always going to bring a certain level of adversity. As leaving your comfort zone is usually challenging, same thing can be applied for the work environment. However, my affinities to learn languages (6 languages so far) has smoothen my communication skills, opened the doors to many opportunities and broke as much academic and social barriers. Which is something I would highly recommend to my fellow PhD candidates. Developing a mindset to reach the “au-delà” of your todays’ potential is nothing but the pillar of ones’ growth, therefore, keeping an open mind to new possibilities, new ways to approach your scientific logic and nurture your intellect is key to improve your collaborative skills. Besides, I believe that diversity is the basis of richness, so between Morocco, Italy, and Spain (and hopefully more continuous and/or diverse collaborations in the future), not only have I enlarged my scientific and academic network but also have acquired different communication skills, different leadership skills and different management skills.
After my six months abroad, I will be rejoining my Italian team within the Laboratory of Marine Ecology and Biology (LABEM) at the Department of Life and Environmental Science - University of Cagliari for my third and final year of PhD. My experience within the LABEM team has been amazingly nourishing and progressive, personally, and academically.
My contribution to the team involved experimental and laboratory analysis related to collaborations in regional and national projects assessing the effects of climate change on the marine environment, including the University of Sassari (UniSS) and the University of Palermo (UniPa), with and under the supervision of Professor Antonio Pusceddu. To whom I would like to deeply thank and to acknowledge his professionalism, ethical leadership, and continuous academic support. Besides, I have my colleagues to thank also for their collaborative work ethics and amazing work environment.
The Andalusia has been a very culturally nostalgic place to be. It holds a huge amount of the Muslim history. Most famously by the artistic touch incarnated in the architecture of the Royal Palaces since the early ages. Besides some of the Moroccan Zellige and mosaic heritage that you see in the walls and floors of historical buildings. Spain embraced Islam which had a positive input on its youth, starting from the Andalusia. It had witnessed a glorious rise of Spanish-Muslim scholars and Arab-Muslim scholars, who established, contributed, and practiced different sciences form mathematics to astronomy, medicine and chemistry, physics, and mechanics. Just to name few: Abbas Ibn Firnas for example, who developed the first steps to the mechanics of flight, to prepare the grounds six hundred years earlier to Leonardo da Vinci. Later, having survived the experiment with a back injury, Ibn Firnas also constructed a famous planetarium that simulated such celestial phenomena as thunder and lightning, a revolutionary invention at the time. The first original mathematician and astronomer of Al-Andalus: Maslamah al-Majriti, who died in 1008 and has been precedent by competent scientists like Ibn Abi 'Ubaydah of Valencia, a leading astronomer in the ninth century. Maslamah al-Majriti has elaborated the Arabic translation of Ptolemy's Almagest, and enlarged and corrected the astronomical tables of the famous Al-Khwarazmi (the name of the polymath from which derives the name Algorithm, in recognition of his mathematics teachings and findings). The list goes on and goes back to the golden age of Islam where the basis of many sciences, education, and ethics began. I encourage everyone to read about it and explore this amazing cultural heritage, that Spanish-Andalusian people are very proud of.