**Simone Montano**

Simone Montano is a researcher at the University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (DISAT) in Italy, and Vice-Director of the Marine Research and High Education Center, Magoodhoo Island, Maldives. He is a marine biologist, mainly interested in the ecology and biology of the coral reef ecosystem. His current research activities focus on the assessment of coral health and diseases, with particular attention on new and emerging coral symbioses, and about the emerging field of coral reefs restoration and rehabilitation. In this regard, he is deeply involved in developing new advanced tools to mitigate the impacts of coral diseases and to boost the recovery of the coral reefs. All his activities are aimed to understand the dynamics that will drive this ecosystem under a climate change scenario, in order to develop and propose environmental managemen<sup>t</sup> plans. To date, he has published more than 90 peer-reviewed papers in international scientific journals. He is a PADI diving instructor with an Advanced European Scientific Diver license, with ¿900 scientific dives and a total of ¿1100. His field work experiences include the Caribbean (St. Eustatius, Bonaire, and Curacao), the Indo-Pacific area (Maldives, Mauritius, Yemen, India, and Thailand), and the Red Sea (Egypt, Saudi Arabia).
