Dexter Dela Cruz

Biography

Dexter dela Cruz main research topics are coral reef ecology, restoration and coral reproduction. He is currently undertaking Postdoctoral Research on coral restoration using mass larval enhancement under the laboratory of Prof. Peter Harrison. Dexter is from the Philippines where he finished his Master Degree in Marine Science major in Marine Biology at The Marine Science Institute, University of the Philippines (UP). He was a scholar of Global Environment Facility – World Bank, and European Union Coral Reef Restoration Projects during his master’s and involved in a working group that test the viability of asexual fragmentation and coral gardening concept as a coral restoration method. He continued to work in UP for various coral restoration projects under different local agencies such as the Department of Science and Technology, and Department of Environment and Natural Resources. He joined SCU in 2013 as a PhD student where he received the John Allwright Scholarship - Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) of the Australian Awards. His research is part of the ACIAR Coral Reef Restoration Using Mass Larval Enhancement in the Philippines wherein millions of laboratory cultured coral larvae are released directly onto degraded coral reefs.