Dr. Licia Calabrese is an independent researcher and consultant currently working in the Middle East on both seabirds and landbirds at the Al Wajh Lagoon Important Bird Area. As Senior Bird Manager, she coordinates all scientific and operational work on birds within the Al Wajh Special Economic Zone.

She holds a Master’s degree in Nature Conservation, with a thesis on Seychelles Magpie-robin behaviour, and a PhD from Pierre et Marie Curie University (Paris) on the abundance, distribution, and foraging ecology of two species of shearwaters breeding in Seychelles. During her doctoral studies, she collaborated with Vincent Bretagnolle at CNRS Chizé, France, and Gérard Rocamora in Seychelles.

Dr. Calabrese has over 11 years of field experience with seabirds and island ecosystems, predominantly in Seychelles, where she worked as a Conservation and Science Officer at the Island Conservation Society — first in the inner islands (Aride Island Nature Reserve) and later in the outer islands (Farquhar Atoll). She has also worked with BirdLife Italy on marine and terrestrial birds, gaining extensive experience across diverse ecosystems and habitats.

Her expertise includes habitat enhancement and conservation, spatial planning, population trend analysis, habitat selection studies, and bird telemetry using geolocators, GPS, archival tags, and Argos satellite tags. She has contributed to numerous peer-reviewed scientific papers and is fluent in Italian, English, French, and Seychellois Creole.