A GRADUATE from Essex University is to travel to the Maldives as part of the world’s largest global coral reef restoration programme.

Rebecca Daniel, 27, completed her undergraduate degree in biological sciences at Durham before then reading for a Master’s in tropical marine biology at Essex from 2017 to 2018.

On Friday, Miss Daniel will begin her journey to the island off the Indian ocean, and will work with experts at the Maldives Coral Institute to help research the restoration of the coral reef there.

Coral reefs, Miss Daniel explains, are an underwater ecosystem which are not only teeming with thousands of different species, but equally protect coastal areas by reducing the impact of waves.

She said: “For coastal communities, coral reefs are really good at absorbing waves, and they are bio-diverse, so lots of medicines also come from coral reefs.

“There is also a very large percentage of fish species which depend on coral reefs for their life cycle – sometimes species will come back to spawn and reproduce, so they are a really important for different reasons.”

Whilst she is in the Maldives, Miss Daniel will also be blogging about the conservation efforts and how the community on the island is scaling up the efforts of the global reef restoration programme.

Blogging is far from an alien concept the Essex University graduate, however; whilst studying for her master’s, Miss Daniel set up an Instagram account called The Marine Diaries, which offers regular insights into marine biology.

The account has since attracted more than 23,000 followers since it was set up whilst Miss Daniel lived on the Essex University campus.

“Essex University has a world class coral research unit, and having world class researchers in the main biology lab was a real plus.”

Whilst at Essex, Miss Daniel went on a field trip to Indonesia, where the Hope Reef kick started the global coral restoration programme a decade ago.

The coral reef in the Maldives will follow in the optimism of its Indonesian counterpart, with this particular reef forecast to have a high chance of a survival.

When Miss Daniel returns from her Maldivian adventure later this month, she will be hoping the global reef restoration project continues to ride the crest of a wave.